tihvary  of  Che  Cheological  ^eminarjp 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 

PURCHASED  BY  THE 
HAMILL  MISSIONARY  FUND 


BV  2630  .S65  1912 
Somerndike,  John  Mason,  1877 

On  the  firing  line  with  the 
Sunday-school  missionary 


"Suffer   the    little    children    to    come    unto    me,    and    fmliid    them    not." 
"It    is   not    the    will    of   your    Father    which    is    in    heaven    that    one    of 
these  little  ones  should  perish." 


G^ 


^  7  19?3 


y  ^ 


^imM  b' 


On  the  Firing  Line 

WITH    THE    SUNDAY- 
SCHOOL  MISSIONARY 


BY 


JOHN    M.  SOMERNDIKE 


Philadelphia 

The  Westminster   Press 

1912 


Copyright,  1912 
By  F.  M.  Braselmann 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

Beginnings    3 

CHAPTER  II 

The   Field   17 

CHAPTER  III 

The   Northern   Prairies 33 

CHAPTER  IV 

The  Middle  West 51 

CHAPTER  V 

The  Rocky   Mountain   District 67 

CHAPTER  VI 

The  South  and   Southwest 83 

CHAPTER  VII 

The  Pacific  Slope loi 

CHAPTER  VIII 

The   Negro   Problem 115 

CHAPTER  IX 

Obeying  the  Great  Commission 125 

APPENDIX  A 

Questions  for  Study  Classes 131 

iii 


iv  CONTENTS 

APPENDIX  B 

Reference  Literature  136 

APPENDIX  C 

The    Foreign    Mission    Work    of   the    Sunday- 
S.CHOOL  Board 138 

APPENDIX  D 

The  Department  of  Young  People's  Work 143 

APPENDIX  E 

Tables   146 

APPENDIX  F 

Missionary  Illustrations 149 


FOREWORD 

The  study  of  missions  in  the  homeland  is  incom- 
plete without  a  review  of  the  labors  of  the  Sunday- 
school  missionary.  A  cause  which  has  assumed 
such  proportions  as  this  within  the  short  space  of  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  and  upon  which  the  Presby- 
terian Church  is  expending-  more  than  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  annually,  is  worthy  of  prayerful 
study  and  investigation. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  at  large  has  been  sadly 
lacking  in  knowledge  of  Sunday-school  missionary 
work.  It  is  a  form  of  missionary  effort  which  has 
a  sphere  distinctly  its  own,  cultivating  fields  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  activities  of  any  other  benevolent 
board  of  the  church,  and  producing  results  that 
should  satisfy  the  most  exacting.  Indeed  it  is  a  fre- 
quent remark  of  those  who  are  led  to  examine  into 
the  details  of  its  operations,  "I  had  no  idea  our 
church  was  engaged  in  missionary  work  of  that 
kind ;    I  want  to  have  a  share  in  it." 

It  seemed  proper,  therefore,  that  the  cause  should 
be  presented  in  all  its  aspects  and  in  concrete  form, 
as  a  live  missionary  issue ;  not  a  history  of  the  work 
of  past  years,  interesting  as  that  would  be.  Neither 
could  it  be  a  biography  of  the  faithful  workers  who 
have  labored  so  self-sacrificingly  on  the  firing  line, 
some  of  them  for  a  quarter  of  a  century ;  though 
that  of  itself  would  form  an  inspiring  record  of 
missionary  service. 

V 


vi  FOREWORD 

The  aim  has  been  to  lay  this  cause — which  is  so 
far-reaching  in  its  influence  upon  the  future  of  our 
national  and  church  life — before  Christians  every- 
where as  one  which  should  be  earnestly  and  gen- 
erously supported  both  as  a  religious  and  as  a  patri- 
otic duty. 

I  am  indebted  to  the  field  workers  who  have  sup- 
plied the  incidents  demonstrating  the  value  and 
adaptability  of  Sunday-school  missions  to  the  needs 
of  rural,  unchurched  parts  of  our  land,  and  to  the 
faithful  fellow  workers  who  encouraged  me  to  carry 
the  work  to  completion. 

May  God  use  it  in  creating  a  deeper  interest 
throughout  the  church  in  this  great  missionary 
enterprise,  stimulating  larger  gifts  for  the  sending 
of  more  laborers  into  this  white  harvest  field. 

J.  M.  S. 

Philadelphia,  October,  191 2. 


BEGINNINGS 


I  know  of  but  one  blot  upon  America  as  a  spiritual  power. 
That  is  the  exclusion  of  spirituality,  as  one  of  the  great 
facts  of  the  world,  from  the  education  of  the  young.  We 
admit  Darwin,  we  admit  the  philosophers,  the  biologists — 
we  admit  the  scientists,  of  every  class  ;  and  I  think  there  is 
no  fact  in  nature  or  history  that  ought  to  be  excluded  from 
study.  We  admit  all  the  facts  of  the  universe,  save  and 
except  the  supreme  fact  that  religion,  after  all,  is  the  funda- 
mental influence  in  all  the  movements  of  mankind.  We  teach 
the  life  of  George  Washington  and  his  work,  and  teach  it 
rightly  and  profitably.  We  teach  the  life  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln and  his  work,  rightly  and  profitably.  But  for  some  rea- 
son, chiefly  because  there  is  a  fear  that  we  do  not  agree 
among  ourselves  respecting  some  of  the  details,  we  exclude 
Jesus  Christ  and  his  wisdom  among  men. 

Because  there  are  these  differences,  the  state,  asserting 
neutrality,  excludes  religious  education.  That  is  not  a  neu- 
tral position.  That  is  not  the  state  taking  neutral  ground. 
If,  for  instance,  diff"erences  had  sprung  up  among  the  geog- 
raphers concerning  the  character  of  the  earth's  surface,  and 
we  had  said  because  of  these  diff^erences  we  would  not  teach 
geography  at  all,  would  that  be  neutral  on  geography?  Would 
not  that  be  throwing  the  balance  of  power  against  geography? 
And  in  excluding  spirituality  the  state  has  thrown  the  bal- 
ance of  its  power  against  spirituality.  Unless  children  can 
receive  this  instruction  in  the  schools,  at  the  age  when  their 
character  and  mentality  are  forming,  they  lose  it  altogether. 
When  they  pass  out  of  the  school  they  pass  into  manhood 
and  womanhood,  and  if  the  day  of  education  is  postponed 
it  is  postponed  forever,  unless  the  pupil  has  the  advantage 
of  other  means  of  instruction.  Thus,  one  of  the  most  con- 
serving, one  of  the  most  exalting  facts  in  the  whole  universe, 
one  of  the  most  useful  facts  that  constitute  knowledge,  the 
fact  of  the  life  and  work  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  omitted  in  their 
instruction. — Hon.  Peter  C.  Grosscup. 


CHAPTER  I 
BEGINNINGS 

Sunday-school  missions  is  one  of  the  oldest  of  History 
missionary  movements  in  the  United  States.  For 
fifty  years  this  work  was  carried  on  almost  ex- 
clusively by  undenominational  agencies.  It  is  a 
significant  fact,  however,  that  the  work  was  lib- 
erally supported  by  the  Presbyterian  denomination, 
and  leading  Presbyterians  were  active  in  directing 
its  operations. 

Subsequent  to  the  Reunion  of  the  Old  and  New 
School  Branches  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
1870,  when  the  whole  country  was  rejoicing  in 
peace  and  pulsating  with  new  life,  there  came  an 
awakening  of  church  consciousness.  The  program 
of  the  united  body  called  for  a  broadening  of  all 
forms  of  church  activity.  It  summoned  the  church 
to  an  advance  in  missions  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
missions  to  the  children  on  our  own  frontier  as  well 
as  to  the  darker-skinned  boys  and  girls  on  foreign 
shores.  Undenominationalism  was  a  spent  force. 
The  feeling  became  universal  among  Presbyterians 
that  church  loyalty  demanded  that  we  perform  our 
full  missionary  responsibility  in  the  homeland  by 
having  our  own  force  of  Sunday-school  mission- 
aries in  the  field. 

Moreover,  the  Sunday  school  as  a  missionary  and 
evangelizing   agency   w^as    beginning   to    receive   a 

3 


4  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

recognition  which  it  had  not  hitherto  enjoyed.     In 
*  the  plans  of  the  united  church,  the  Sunday  school 

and  its  interests  were  given  a  prominent  place. 
The  leaders  of  the  church,  with  statesmenlike  vision, 
saw  the  need  for  extending  its  influence,  but  under 
denominational  supervision.  One  report  on  the 
subject  states : 

"It  is  surely  high  time  for  the  Presbyterian 
Church  to  move  in  this  matter,  as  her  sister-churches 
are  already  moving.  We  are  now,  as  a  body,  strong 
enough  to  conduct  this  distinct  and  most  important 
enterprise.  It  is  believed  that  our  ministers  and 
people  are  ready  and  anxious  to  enter  upon  it  with 
all  vigor.  Certainly,  other  denominations  are  look- 
ing for  us  to  be  among  the  foremost  in  this  enter- 
prise, which  must  be  productive  of  vast  results  for 
good.  We  might  expect  every  Sunday  school  or- 
ganized through  our  instrumentality  to  become  a 
center  of  salutary  influences,  and  many  to  lead  to 
the  organization  of  churches." 
Dcnomi-  Already   the    church   was   beginning   to   feel   the 

Supervision  truth  expressed  years  later  by  the  Synod  of  Iowa. 
After  telling  of  work  accomplished,  the  synod 
said: 

"It  is  in  the  light  of  such  facts  in  Iowa,  largely 
duplicated  in  other  synods,  that  one  learns  whether 
denominational  Sunday-school  work  pays.  It  is 
practical  and  definite.  It  yields  something  perma- 
nent, and  when  we  contrast  these  abiding  husbanded 
results  with  the  absence  of  anything  tangible,  at 
least  to  our  church,  from  general  union  eflfect,  are 
we  not  justified  in  appealing  to  our  people  to  con- 


BEGINNINGS  5 

centrate  their  gifts   for  Sunday-school  missionary 
work  upon  our  Board's  treasury?" 

The  General  Assembly  put  itself  on  record  thus : 

We  do  not  disparage  what  has  been  done  by  other 
agencies  in  the  field :  God  bless  them  and  prosper  their 
work.  But  we  submit  that  it  is  better  to  work  through 
the  agency  of  the  church,  which  can  take  care  of  the 
results  of  the  work,  gather  them  into  permanent  organiza- 
tions and  exercise  over  them  continued  and  loving  care — 
impossible  to  the  undenominational  or  union  work.  There 
is  no  force  in  the  plea  for  non-denominational  work  as 
being  better  adapted  to  reach  the  masses.  People  will 
love  the  agency  that  cares  for  them ;  they  will  love  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  come  into  it  gladly,  if  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  proves  that  she  loves  them  and  seeks 
their  good.  So  we  urge  our  people  to  stand  loyally  by 
their  own  church  agency  for  this  work,  and  to  give  what 
they  have  for  this  cause  through  our  own  Board,  as- 
suring them  that  this  is  not  only  right  and  wise,  but  that 
it  is  also  the  most  fruitful  use  they  can  make  of  their 
means. 

The  country  was  entering  upon  an  era  of  ex-  The 
pansion  greater  than  any  that  had  preceded  it.  F"'"'"'"' 
Large  areas  were  thrown  open  to  settlement  in  the 
West  and  Northwest.  During  the  previous  year 
(1869)  the  golden  spike  had  been  driven  uniting 
the  two  great  railroad  systems,  forming  the  first 
transcontinental  railway  and  linking  the  East  with 
the  new  West.  The  immediate  effect  of  this  enter- 
prise was  seen  in  the  rapid  growth  in  the  population 
of  this  region,  many  of  the  states  doubling  their 
population  within  a  few  years.  But  the  church  was 
not  keeping  pace  with  this  advance.  Under  the 
homestead  act  thousands  of  families  had  gone  from 


6  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

the  East  and  from  the  Middle  West  to  take  up 
homes  on  the  frontier.  Towns  were  springing  into 
existence  everywhere  along  the  lines  of  new  rail- 
roads, and  in  the  absence  of  restraining  legislation 
the  saloon  with  its  attendant  evils  flourished.  The 
forces  of  sin  held  full  sway.  The  dance  hall  and 
the  gambling  hell  were  the  social  center  of  the  com- 
munity. The  Sabbath  was  desecrated,  and  the  re- 
ligious teaching  which  many  of  the  new  settlers 
had  known  in  earlier  years  was  neglected.  Chil- 
dren were  growing  into  manhood  and  womanhood 
in  such  surroundings,  and  with  what  results !  Too 
far  removed  from  the  influence  of  the  settled  min- 
istry and  without  even  the  semblance  of  a  religious 
atmosphere,  was  it  any  wonder  that  the  cry  of  the 
perishing  children  of  the  plains  touched  the  heart 
of  the  church  and  prompted  her  through  the  lead- 
ing of  the  Spirit  to  undertake  this  great  mission  to 
the  neglected? 

One  of  the  earliest  of  the  Sunday-school  mis- 
sionaries relates  an  experience  which  accurately  de- 
scribes the  conditions  which  he  and  other  such 
workers  met  as  they  began  their  labors : 

As  I  walked  along  I  met  a  farmer  and  I  greeted  him 
with  a  cheerful  "Good-morning,  my  friend."  He  kindly  re- 
turned the  salutation  and  a  conversation  was  begun.  I 
told  him  who  I  was  and  the  purpose  of  my  coming — to 
visit  the  Sunday  school  and  also  to  hold  service.  He  re- 
plied, "I  was  at  the  Sunday  school  last  Sunday,  and,  if 
spared,  I  will  be  there  to-morrow."  Then,  looking  at  me 
very  earnestly,  he  said,  "Friend,  why  did  not  you  or  some 
one  else  come  out  years  ago  and  start  Sunday  schools  in 
these   settlements?     My   home   is   three   and   a   half  miles 


BEGINNINGS  7 

farther  out  than  the  settlement,  and  I  have  lived  twelve 
years  there,  destitute  of  all  means  of  grace,  and  my  boys 
are  growing  up  and  they  are  not  turning  out  well."  As 
he  spoke  tears  dropped  from  his  cheek.  Such  grief  was 
to  me  a  sure  indication  that  behind  these  tears  there  was 
a  sad  story.  I  made  inquiries  as  to  the  "boys"  and  found 
that  one  of  them  was  in  prison.  On  learning  this  I  was 
better  able  to  grasp  the  eloquence  of  the  father's  tears. 
Since  then  another  of  his  "boys"  has  come  into  the  meshes 
of  the  law.  This  incident  revealed  similar  conditions  that 
could  be  counted  by  the  hundreds  all  over  this  state. 

For  a  number  of  years  the  Board  endeavored  to 
use  its  colporteurs  (or  missionary  booksellers)  to 
do  this  Sunday-school  mission  work,  but  it  proved 
impracticable  and  unsatisfactory  to  the  church  at 
large. 

After  much  discussion  and  consideration,  the  Reorgani- 
General  Assembly  of  1887,  in  session  at  Minne-  (^^5°°,^ 
apolis,  adopted  the  report  presented  by  a  special 
committee  appointed  the  previous  year,  which  gave 
to  the  Board  of  Publication  its  commission  to  de- 
vote its  energies  henceforth,  largely  to  this  form 
of  itinerant  missionary  work,  making  it  the  chief 
concern  of  the  new  Board  of  Publication  and  Sab- 
bath-School Work.  It  was  now  to  be  a  missionary 
Board ;  its  marching  orders  were  "beginning  at 
Jerusalem,"  its  field  nation-wide  and  its  watchword 
"the  children  for  Christ." 

Thus  was  this  new  missionary  enterprise  brought 
into  being,  bringing  with  it  opportunities  that  chal- 
lenged the  choicest  spirits  of  the  church.  It  opened 
a  field  of  missionary  service  for  laymen,  calling  for 
staunch,  courageous  and  consecrated  men  who  were 


8  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

willing  and  able  to  sacrifice  comforts,  endure  hard- 
ship, separation  from  their  families  and  exposure  to 
extreme  heat  of  the  summer  and  the  severe  cold  of 
the  winter.  It  required  men  of  brain  as  well  as 
brawn ;  men  of  patience,  tactfulness  and  "sanctified 
common  sense" ;  men  who  saw  no  discouragement 
in  difficulties  but  only  opportunities  for  victory. 

A  typical  experience  related  by  a  Montana  mis- 
sionary illustrates  this  statement : 

You  will  doubtless  be  unable  to  sympathize  with  con- 
ditions out  here  during  the  winter  weather.  For  the  past 
two  weeks  there  has  been  zero  weather;  one  day  it  was 
twenty-eight  degrees  below  zero.  We  had  a  fine  drizzling 
snow  for  three  days ;  with  the  thermometer  standing  be- 
low zero,  to  go  out  in  it  meant  to  be  frozen.  I  started 
out  with  my  horse  on  a  twenty-five  mile  ride  through  the 
bad  lands  and  over  coulee  and  plain;  but  before  I  reached 
my  destination  the  blinding  snow  storm  overtook  me  and 
at  five  o'clock  just  five  miles  from  my  destination  I  de- 
scended into  the  Cotton  Wood  Creek  but  owing  to  the 
darkness  and  snow-covered  trail,  I  could  not  find  my  way 
out.  I  traveled  down  the  creek  with  the  hope  of  finding  a 
way  out  but  found  instead  a  slough  across  the  mouth 
from  bluff  to  bluff.  Then  I  came  across  a  cabin  where  I 
found  some  old  paper  and  dry  wood  and  kindled  a  fire 
by  which  I  sat  and  kept  warm  till  the  moon  came  out 
from  behind  a  cloud,  which  was  ten  o'clock.  I  then  started 
out  on  an  exploration  trip  and  in  an  hour's  time  came 
across  a  house  where  I  had  the  privilege  of  sleeping  on 
the  bare  floor  for  the  night,  while  my  poor  horse  had  to 
stand  out  in  the  cold  all  night.  It  was  twenty  degrees 
below   zero   that  night. 

Fundamental       Tlic  principles  upon  which  this  work  was  to  be 
Principles      carried  on  were  clearly  defined  at  the  outset.     The 


BEGINNINGS  9 

Sunday-school  missionary  is  not  simply  an  itinerant 
preacher ;  he  is  an  organizer  gathering  the  scattered 
lambs  everywhere  into  the  fold  of  the  great  Shep- 
herd. It  is  a  missionary  enterprise  and  as  such  it 
throws  itself  upon  the  benevolent  spirit  of  the 
church.  It  is  a  mission  primarily  to  the  children, 
and  it  works  through  the  agency  of  the  Sunday 
school.  The  wisdom  of  the  plan  conceived  by  the 
Assembly's  committee  has  been  vindicated  by  the 
remarkable  results  that  have  been  accomplished. 

With  rare  wisdom  and  foresight  the  church  de- 
cided that  this  work — which,  while  missionary  in  its 
highest  sense,  was  also  directed  toward  the  Chris- 
tian nurture  of  the  youth — should  be  placed  under 
the  care  of  the  Board  that  had  already  rendered 
distinguished  services  in  this  field  through  its  labors 
in  behalf  of  the  Sunday  schools  already  in  existence : 

"The  nature  of  the  work  of  organizing,  fostering 
and  strengthening  Sunday  schools  naturally  falls 
in  with  gratuitous  distribution  of  books,  religious 
visitation  to  families  and  sales  of  the  Board's  litera- 
ture. The  Sunday  school  is  demanding  the  atten- 
tion of  all  religious  denominations  as  never  before. 
The  time  has  come  when  this  work  must  be  pushed. 
The  church  which  enlists  the  children  under  Christ's 
banner,  under  the  blessing  of  God  will  be  the  grow- 
ing church,  the  aggressive  church,  the  church  of 
the  future.  We  have  all  the  paraphernalia,  all  the 
resources  needed,  all  the  artillery  and  ammunition, 
but  we  need  organization  and  leadership.  This 
work  belongs  to  the  Board  of  Publication  naturally. 
As  already  stated,  seventy-five  per  cent  of  its  publi- 


10  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

cations  are  directly  in  the  line  of  Sunday  schools. 
No  other  board  could  successfully  carry  on  this 
work." 

Rev.    Howard    Crosby,    D.D.,   outlined   the  new 
work  proposed  very  clearly : 

Forerunner  The  direct  missionary  work  of  the  Board  (of  Publica- 
of  Churches  tion  and  Sabbath-School  Work)  is  largely  that  of  a  fore- 
runner to  the  work  of  the  Board  of  Home  Missions.  It 
can  occupy  a  field  newly  opened  before  the  home  mission- 
ary can  reach  it.  It  collects  materials  and  starts  a  life 
to  which  the  home  missionary  comes  afterwards.  It  plants 
the  school,  which  the  home  missionary  converts  into  a 
church.  It  visits  a  settlement  before  the  houses  are  roofed 
in,  and  gathers  the  children  to  receive  religious  instruc- 
tion— it  may  be  under  a  tree  or  in  a  barn.  It  seeks  to 
sanctify  a  community  at  its  birth,  and  so  prepare  the  way 
for  larger  spiritual  applications.  The  work  is  laborious 
and  full  of  vicissitude,  requiring  faith  and  zeal  and  tact 
that  are  not  extensively  found.  The  self-denying  Sunday- 
school  missionary  meets  with  every  variety  of  experience. 
He  pushes  on  under  the  burning  heat  of  summer  and  the 
biting  cold  of  winter.  He  puts  up  with  a  rough  diet  and 
rougher  lodgment.  He  faces  objections,  indifference,  rude- 
ness, and  open  opposition.  He  is  satisfied  with  a  meager 
salary,  and  finds  his  reward  in  a  good  conscience  and  the 
knowledge  that  he  is  working  in  the  front  for  his  Lord  and 
Saviour.  With  all  the  disadvantages  that  he  meets  he 
founds  the  school,  he  establishes  its  system,  he  appoints 
its  officers,  he  instructs  them  in  its  manner  of  conduct, 
and,  having  fairly  constructed  and  launched  the  new  enter- 
prise with  earnest  prayer,  he  proceeds  to  the  next  station 
to  repeat  the   useful  work  there. 

Adminis-  The  ncw  work  committed  to  the  Board  was  im- 

tration  mediately    placed    under    the    care    of   Rev.    James 

A.  Worden,  D.D.,  who  for  several  years  previous 


(j(Aj^(Xr^c/jU^   /kQ^ 


Secretary    of    the    Board    of    Publication 
and    Sabbath-School    Work. 


BEGINNINGS  II 

had  been  rendering  efficient  service  to  the  church  as 
the  secretary  of  Sunday-school  work.  Under  his 
new  title  as  Superintendent  of  Sabbath-School  and 
Missionary  Work,  he  began  his  duties  at  the  head 
of  this  department  of  missionary  activity,  shaping 
its  policies,  selecting  the  workers,  developing  their 
efficiency  and  presenting  the  cause  to  the  church 
with  such  zeal  and  fervor  that  during  the  first  year 
of  his  incumbency  a  debt  of  twenty-four  thousand 
dollars  was  removed,  and  many  thousands  of  dol- 
lars were  raised  in  addition,  for  the  support  of  Sun- 
day-school missionaries.  For  eighteen  years  Dr. 
Worden  continued  in  this  position,  seeing  the  force 
of  missionaries  grow  from  fourteen,  in  1887,  to 
one  hundred  and  ten,  in  1904.  In  1905  the  Board 
was  reorganized  and  the  work  of  Sunday-school 
missions  was  placed  under  the  care  of  the  secre- 
tary. Rev.  Alexander  Henry,  D.D.,  who  since  that 
time  has  directed  its  ever-expanding  activities  with 
marked  efficiency.  Under  his  supervision  this  cause 
has  developed  in  a  most  satisfactory^  way.  Its  in- 
come has  largely  increased  and  the  force  of  work- 
ers has  been  greatly  enlarged.  It  has  grown  in 
favor  with  the  church  at  large;  and  its  scope  has 
been  widened  to  include  every  phase  of  Sunday- 
school  activity.  He  put  into  operation  the  plan  of 
educational  Sunday-school  work  which  is  accom- 
plishing so  much  for  the  development  of  our  Sun- 
day schools  in  organization  and  efficiency.  Under 
his  guidance  the  Board's  ministrv'  to  the  spiritual 
needs  of  the  foreigner  in  our  midst  has  become  one 
of  the  chief  factors   in  the  scheme  of  immigrant 


ization 


12  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

evangelization.  His  leadership  has  been  effectual 
also  in  organizing  and  supervising  the  young  peo- 
ple's work  of  the  church  which  the  General  Assembly 
committed  to  this  Board,  and  which  is  rendering 
splendid  service  in  training  the  young  people  for 
Christian  service.  He  holds  frequent  conferences 
with  the  Sunday-school  missionaries  on  the  field 
and  with  the  representative  committees  of  presbytery 
and  synod. 

Field  Organ-  Xhc  ficld  Organization  is  complete.  Each  Sun- 
day-school missionary  is  placed  under  the  direct 
supervision  of  the  Committee  on  Publication  and 
Sabbath-School  Work  in  the  presbytery  or  synod 
to  which  he  is  assigned.  He  reports  monthly  to 
the  chairman  of  this  committee  and  confers  with 
him  in  planning  his  labors.  This  committee  acts 
in  harmony  with  the  missionary  policy  of  the  pres- 
bytery, counseling  with  the  Home  Mission  Commit- 
tee with  reference  to  strategic  points  that  should  be 
occupied,  and  arranging  for  the  effective  develop- 
ment of  fields  in  which  Sunday  schools  have  already 
been  established  and  which  are  ripe  for  the  services 
of  the  pastor  evangelist.  Here  is  an  opportunity 
for  cordial  cooperation ;  one  sows,  another  reaps, 
but  both  partake  of  the  reward  of  the  faithful. 

The  Sunday-school  missionary  labors  quietly,  pa- 
tiently and  without  ostentation,  but  he  clears  the 
path  of  the  home  missionary,  who  is  to  follow  him, 
of  obstructions  that  otherwise  would  be  a  constant 
menace  to  the  success  of  his  labors. 

It  is  a  matter  of  record  that  scores  of  fields 
in   which    we   now   have    flourishing   Presbyterian 


I  Rev.  Tames  A.  Worden,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Secietary  ot  babbath- 
schobl  Work,  1878- 1887;  Superintendent  of  Sabbath-school 
and  Missionary  Work,  1887-1904;  Supermtendent  of  Sab- 
bath-school  Training.    1904 — . 

2.  The  outgrowth  of  Sunday-school  missions  in  a  destitute  com- 
munity  in   the   mountains   of   Tennessee. 


BEGINNINGS 


13 


churches  would  have  been  lost  to  us  had  not  the 
Sunday-school  missionary  by  his  tact  and  persever- 
ance held  them  ag'ainst  difficulties  that  were  most 
disheartening.  Sometimes  it  is  necessary  for  him 
to  reorganize  a  school  a  second  or  a  third  time,  but 
this  fact  does  not  discourage  him. 

A  Sunday  school  may  die  and  be  revived  a  num- 
ber of  times  without  weakening  its  influence  as  an 
institution  for  good.  Temporary  failure  may  be 
caused  because  the  wrong  person  was  chosen  for 
superintendent,  or  because  of  a  neighborhood  quar- 
rel, or  by  the  removal  of  those  who  assumed  the 
leadership.  A  visit  from  the  Sunday-school  mis- 
sionary, a  word  of  encouragement,  a  reorganization 
and  a  selection  of  new  officers  usually  results  in 
the  revival  of  interest  and  enthusiasm.  No  Waste 

There  is  no  waste  in  Sunday-school  missions. 
Even  though  a  school  should  die,  it  has  done  a 
blessed  work  while  it  lived.  Let  none  presume  to 
say  that  even  the  Sunday  school  that  dies  is  a  fail- 
ure. God's  Word  cannot  die  nor  fail  in  its  power. 
Brief  though  its  existence  may  have  been,  children 
have  been  brought  in  contact  with  spiritual  things, 
they  have  read  and  studied  the  Word,  they  have 
heard  the  story  of  salvation ;  they  have  heard  pray- 
ers offered,  and  they  have  learned  hymns  for  his 
praise.  Surely  this  precious  seed,  sown  in  faith, 
cannot  perish.  The  Sunday-school  missionary 
leaves  the  increase  to  the  Master  of  the  vineyard. 
It  is  his  to  sow,  to  tend  and  to  water;  and  this  he 
does  in  humility  and  patience,  even  though  he  may 
not  see  all  the  fruitasre  from  his  toil. 


THE  FIELD 


The  Sunday  school  has  been  described  as  "the  most  flex- 
ible, adaptable  and  far-reaching  institution  ever  designed  for 
the  conversion  of  the  world."  The  Sunday  school  in  its  mis- 
sionary phase  has  been  one  of  the  chief  forces  for  the  evan- 
gelization of  new-country  communities,  and  the  pioneer  of  the 
church  on  the  frontier.  Missionaries,  churches  and  redeemed 
communities  throughout  the  land  testify  to  the  efficiency  of 
this  popular  and  rational  method  of  evangelization. — J.  O. 
Ashenhurst. 

The  beginning  of  the  reconstruction  of  a  country  place  is 
often  the  founding  of  a  Sunday  school.  The  limitations  of 
Sunday-school  work  are  well  known,  and  you  will  find  these 
limitations  if  you  do  Sunday-school  work ;  but  it  is  well 
to  go  ahead  to  the  limit  before  you  try  another  method. 
Country  people  are  religious.  They  believe  that  their  chil- 
dren should  learn  religion.  More  than  they  crave  the  gospel 
for  themselves,  they  believe  in  it  for  their  little  ones.  It  is 
frequently  possible  to  enlist  rough  men  who  know  no  Scrip- 
ture and  profess  no  religion  in  the  support  of  an  active  school 
for  the  children  on  Sunday,  because  of  the  universal  belief 
of  all  serious  men  in  the  necessity  of  religious  training  for 
the  young. — Warren  H.  Wilson. 


i6 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  FIELD 

The  field  of  Sunday-school  missions  is  unlimited. 
The  force  of  this  statement  that  nearly  one  half  of 
the  children  and  young  people  of  America,  from 
six  to  twenty  years,  are  not  enrolled  in  Sunday 
schools,  has  suffered  somewhat  because  of  its  fre- 
quent repetition.  Nevertheless,  it  is  a  true  state- 
ment as  shown  by  the  latest  statistics.  The  church 
cannot  be  blamed  for  this  condition  of  things,  neither 
can  she  disclaim  the  responsibility  for  providing  a 
remedy.  It  is  not  altogether  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  individual  church  has  neglected  to  gather  into 
its  Sunday  school  the  boys  and  girls  in  its  own 
neighborhood,  although  it  is  unfortunately  true  that 
many  of  our  Sunday  schools,  especially  in  the  cities, 
have  failed  to  live  up  to  their  opportunities  in  this 
direction.  A  careful  study  of  the  situation  reveals 
the  fact  that  the  greater  portion  of  the  twelve  mil- 
lion children  and  young  people  who  are  outside  the 
Sunday  school  are  living  in  the  unevangelized  re- 
gions, the  rural  parts  of  our  land  into  which  the 
Church  of  Christ  has  not  yet  penetrated.  They  may 
be  found  in  the  scattered  homesteads,  on  the  bound- 
less prairie,  in  the  rude  cabins  of  the  southern  moun- 
taineers, in  the  lumber  and  mining  camps  of  the 
Northwest  and  the  Rocky  Mountains,  as  well  as 
among  our  dark-skinned  brethren  of  the  South.    Is 

17 


l8  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

not  this  a  field  of  missionary  opportunity  that  thrills 
the  soul?     And  does  not  the  thought  of  the  neg- 
lecting such  a  field  make  us  fearful  for  the  future 
of  the  church  and  of  the  nation? 
The  Study  "\Yg  ^rc  living  in  an  age  which  recognizes  the 

supremacy  of  the  child.  Never  in  the  history  of 
mankind  has  so  much  thought,  energy  and  means 
been  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  child.  Science, 
literature  and  law  are  busy  in  formulating  ideals, 
in  creating  public  sentiment,  and  in  passing  pre- 
ventative legislation  in  order  that  the  child  may  be- 
come a  stronger  man  morally,  mentally  and  physic- 
ally. But  who  will  provide  for  the  development  of 
the  soul  of  the  child  ?  A  friend  was  expressing  his 
views  upon  the  religious  training  of  children  to  Cole- 
ridge one  day,  advocating  the  elimination  of  Chris- 
tian teaching.  "Very  well,"  said  Coleridge,  "treat 
your  garden  the  same  way.  Plant  nothing  good 
there.  Let  it  alone  and  see  what  it  will  grow  of 
its  own  accord." 

Shreiner  said,  "The  first  seven  years  of  life  make 
us,  the  rest  only  furnish  the  veneering."  The  Chris- 
tian Church  is  in  duty  bound  to  see  that  the  chil- 
dren are  not  religiously  neglected.  We  must  do  for 
their  soul's  culture  what  secular  education  does  for 
their  intellectual  development. 

During  recent  years  all  denominations  have  scored 
an  encouraging  advance  in  efficiency  of  method  in 
Sunday-school  work  and  in  the  preparation  of  suit- 
able courses  of  study.  For  this  we  should  be  pro- 
foundly grateful ;  but  while  we  have  been  standard- 
izing our  Sunday  schools  and  training  the  teach- 


THE  FIELD 


19 


ers,  we  have  allowed  our  missionary  efforts  for  the 
boy  and  girl  outside  to  be  neglected.  We  should 
be  just  as  anxious  that  every  child  shall  have  his 
place  in  the  Sunday  school  as  we  are  that  he  shall 
be  given  a  secular  education,  whether  it  be  in  the 
million  dollar  edifice  of  the  metropolis  with  all  its 
expensive  equipment,  or  in  a  sod  shack  on  the  west- 
ern prairie,  with  rude  benches  for  seats. 

Let  us  analyze  the  situation  a  little  more  closely.  Extent  of 
In  one  district  in  the  northern  part  of  Wisconsin  Dg'Jt^tutioi 
there  are  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  villages,  with 
a  population  of  from  twenty-five  to  one  hundred 
persons,  where  the  people  have  no  regular  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel.  In  California  there  are  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  thousand  children  and  young  peo- 
ple who  are  not  enrolled  in  any  Sunday  school. 
Of  every  ten  negroes  in  our  southern  states  only 
one  has  been  gathered  into  the  Sunday  school.  Of 
North  Dakota's  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand 
children  of  school  age  only  about  sixty  thousand  are 
receiving  religious  teaching  in  the  Sunday  school. 
Approximately  the  same  proportion  holds  true  with 
reference  to  South  Dakota  and  other  states  west  of 
the  Mississippi.  Idaho,  Washington,  Oregon  and 
Montana  are  experiencing  an  unprecedented  increase 
in  population.  The  new  settlers  will  demand  the 
public  school,  but  who  will  plead  for  the  re- 
ligious training  of  their  children?  Arizona  has 
forty  thousand  children  in  her  public  schools  and 
fifteen  thousand  members  in  the  Sunday  schools  of 
all  denominations.  Rev.  W.  O.  Forbes,  D.D.,  in 
connection  with  a  recent  survey  of  religious  con- 


20  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

ditions  in  Washington,  reports  approximately  one 
hundred  thousand  children  of  school  age  not  en- 
rolled in  Sunday  schools.  He  writes :  "Here  are 
thousands  of  children  in  this  state  yet  without  even 
the  privilege  of  going  to  the  Sunday  school,  out  in 
the  foothills,  on  the  homesteads,  in  the  dry  farming 
and  timber  lands,  in  the  mining  and  lumber  camps, 
away  out  in  the  scattered  open  country  and  farming 
communities  there  are  children,  and  many  of  them, 
that  are  without  Sunday  schools  or  other  gospel 
privileges.  I  have  preached  in  localities  and  or- 
ganized schools  and  churches  where  the  children 
were  growing  up  ten,  twelve,  sixteen  and  even 
nineteen  years  old,  that  had  never  been  in  a  church 
and  had  never  heard  anyone  preach  but  myself; 
and  out  of  these  very  places  have  come  many  of 
the  choicest  experiences  of  my  ministry  and  some 
of  the  most  promising  and  permanent  results. 
Then  the  foreign  population,  nominally  Catholic, 
are  woefully  neglected  in  so  many  of  our  mining 
towns." 

The  synodical  Sunday-school  missionary  in  Cali- 
fornia, in  describing  the  religious  conditions  in 
northern  California  writes : 

There  is  a  great  stretch  of  territory,  16,556  square 
miles  in  area,  reaching  from  the  Golden  Gate  to  the  Oregon 
line,  with  a  population  of  192,000  of  which  84  per  cent  are 
in  the  country  or  villages.  I  have  met  a  young  woman  of 
eighteen  years  of  age,  who,  with  her  sister  of  twenty-two, 
had  recently  come  from  within  the  bounds  of  that  pres- 
bytery. Both  are  attractive  and  with  really  wonderful  ar- 
tistic ability.  Just  a  few  weeks  before  the  beginning  of 
my    knowledge    of    them    they    did   not    know    who    Jesus 


THE  FIELD  21 

Christ  is ;  yet  they  were  born  and  reared  in  CaHfornia ! 
There  are  many  such.    What  can  we  do? 

Another  Sunday-school  missionary  whose  labors 
have  been  largely  in  Nevada,  writes : 

No  one  who  has  any  conception  of  the  conditions  can  Their  First 
possibly  doubt  the  needs  of  Sunday-school  work  among  Religious 
the  people  of  the  state.  The  conditions  have  long  been  ^^'■^■" 
such  that  there  are  many  who  have  never  been  able  to 
attend  any  religious  services  at  all.  Hence  there  is  prac- 
tically no  knowledge  of  the  Bible  and  its  teachings  in  many 
parts.  Many  do  not  in  any  way  keep  track  of  the  rest 
day  and  its  meaning  to  the  human  family.  At  one  time 
a  girl  eighteen  years  of  age  rode  six  miles  on  a  wild 
horse  just  for  the  sake  of  attending  the  first  religious 
service  that  ever  came  to  her  notice.  At  another  time 
a  family  of  five  children,  the  eldest  being  twenty-one,  all 
attended  church  for  the  first  time  in  their  lives.  One  man 
asked  that  the  missionary  "say  grace"  at  the  table.  After 
it  was  done  he  remarked  that  he  had  not  heard  a  blessing 
asked  on  the  food  in  thirty  years.  A  young  mother  of 
two  children  attended  her  first  service,  and  the  night  fol-  • 

lowing  spent  most  of  the  time  singing  over  the  songs  she 
had  heard.  A  man  once  said  that  he  had  lived  in  one 
community  twenty-seven  years,  and  that  no  religious  serv- 
ice had  ever  been  held  there.  "We  need  you"  was  the 
greeting  once  given  a  missionary.  "Life  is  worth  living 
now"  said  another  after  the  Sunday  school  had  been  organ- 
ized. At  one  time  an  old  gray  haired  man  stood  looking  at  a 
notice  of  a  service,  and  then  said  he  had  lived  there 
twenty-six  years  and  never  had  seen  anything  like  it  before 
in  that  place. 

From  these  facts  we  see  that  while  the  old  fron-  The  New 
tier,  as  we  understood  that  term  fifty  years  ago,  ^''°""" 
has  passed  away,  there  is  a  new  frontier  that  lifts 


22  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

a  beckoning  finger  to  the  church,  a  wide-open  door 
of  opportunity,  a  mission  field  that  promises  an 
abundant  harvest  for  the  kingdom.  It  may  lack  the 
romance  of  the  Concord  Coach,  the  prairie  schooner 
and  the  cowboy,  and  it  may  even  lack  remoteness 
which  to  some  is  the  attraction  to  missionary  serv- 
ice; but  we  must  awaken  to  the  crisis  that  we  are 
facing.  Mighty  forces  are  at  work  in  our  land  seek- 
ing to  lead  our  boys  and  girls  away  from  the  founda- 
tions of  truth  and  deceiving  them  with  false  theories 
and  doctrines.  We  are  face  to  face  with  a  critical 
missionary  situation,  and  we  must  arm  ourselves 
for  the  serious  task  of  doing  the  part  which  prop- 
erly belongs  to  us  as  a  church  in  giving  every  boy 
and  girl  in  America  the  opportunity  of  Christian 
training. 

The  frontier  of  to-day  may  not  be  the  "open 
range"  dotted  with  roaming  cattle,  but  it  is  the 
homestead  farm  ringing  with  children's  voices, 
children  for  whom,  the  Master  cares,  whose  value 
he  first  taught  us,  and  in  whose  salvation  he  is  in- 
terested to-day.  "He  shall  gather  the  lambs  in  his 
arms  and  carry  them  in  his  bosom."  Shall  we  not 
help  to  bring  them  to  him  that  he  may  gather  them 
into  his  fold,  and  keep  them  for  eternity? 

It  is  foundation  work  that  is  needed  here.  The 
home  mission  pastor  is  not  needed  so  much  as  the 
pioneer  Sunday-school  missionary.  So  this  is  the 
agency  through  which  these  fields  will  be  won  and 
held  for  Christ  and  the  church.  The  value  of  this 
form  of  evangelization  was  forcibly  expressed  by 
Rev.  J.  C.  McClintock,  D.D.,  a  few  years  ago,  who, 


1.  A  pioneer  schoolroom  in  a   South   Dakota   settlement. 

2.  A  dug-out  settlement  on  the  plains. 

3.  The   beginning  of  a   church   in   a  new   settlement. 

4.  Sunday    school    in    an    unfinished    building — the    only    available    place    for    re- 

ligious services  in  this  new  town. 


THE  FIELD  23 

in  addressing  a  large  gathering  of  Sunday-school 
workers,  said : 

It  has  the  value  of  action.     It  is  prompt  and  loses  no   ^^e  Value 
time.     The  great  demand  of  our  farmers  is  for  a  harvester   "  ,  "°  *^" 

.,  .      ,  ...  School 

that  will  gather  the  crop  quickly  when  it  is  ripe.  The  old  Missions 
sickle  would  do  if  you  had  a  small  crop,  or  ages  of  time 
at  command;  but  here  is  a  work  that  demands  immediate 
action.  My  observation  teaches  me  that  a  great  deal  of 
time  may  be  lost  in  planting  a  church  in  a  needy  locality, 
and  establishing  the  formal  preaching  of  the  gospel  there. 
A  committee  or  two  to  visit  the  field,  a  report  to  pres- 
bytery, a  petition  from  the  people  for  an  organization  and 
a  minister,  some  more  red  tape,  and  perhaps  six  months 
(I  have  known  it  to  be  two  years),  before  the  work  is 
really  under  way.  But  the  Sunday-school  missionary 
comes  along,  sees  the  need  and  the  opportunity,  and  he 
goes  to  work  the  same  hour.  The  first  Sabbath  day  there 
is  a  meeting.  The  school  is  organized  and  begins  its 
blessed  work  at  once. 

It  has  the  value  of  economy.  Our  engineers  want  the 
locomotive  that  can  do  the  most  work  with  the  least  fuel 
at  the  least  cost.  Evangelization  costs.  How  can  we  make 
the  means  at  command  go  furthest  and  accomplish  most. 
If  there  is  a  way  to  reach  more  people  at  the  right  time, 
with  the  gospel,  and  at  less  expense  than  by  this  Sunday- 
school  movement,  I  have  failed  to  find  it.  Most  of  the 
work  is  freely  given  as  the  willing  offering  of  Christian 
love  for  the  souls,  the  fruit  of  honest  desire  to  do  good. 
A  few  dollars  cover  the  necessary  outlay  for  books  and 
place  of  meeting,  and  your  school  thrives  and  does  its 
work  where  no  other  form  of  Christian  activity  could  be 
supported.  You  can  take  your  Sunday  school  to  a  thou- 
sand places,  where  it  would  be  impossible  to  take  the  regu- 
lar church  organization.  Compare  the  cost  of  this  work 
of  saving  a  boy  by  the  gospel,  with  the  cost  of  taking  care 
of  a  lost  boy  by  the  courts.  A  careful  inquiry  was  made 
by  a   well-known    Sunday-school  missionary   into  the   ex- 


24 


ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 


pense  of  the  trial  and  execution  of  a  man  after  his  arrest 
for  the  crime  for  which  he  was  finally  hanged.  When  he 
had  gathered  up  all  the  items  he  found  their  sum  was 
equal  to  the  cost  of  organizing  forty  new  Sunday  schools 
in  frontier  neighborhoods,  or  it  would  have  supported  an 
average  school  of  one  hundred  for  twenty-five  years. 


Raral 
Recon- 
struction 


The  little  mission  Sunday  school  may  well  be 
considered  also  as  a  means  of  rural  reconstruction. 
About  it  may  center  all  the  social  life  of  the  com- 
munity. The  only  opportunity  the  people  have  of 
coming  together  for  social  intercourse  may  be  found 
in  the  services  of  the  little  school.  One  missionary 
in  Colorado  encourages  the  schools  he  organizes 
to  minister  to  the  social  life  of  the  communities  in 
which  they  are  situated  as  well  as  to  their  spiritual 
welfare.     For  example,  he  writes — 


An  institute  was  arranged  for  the  neighboAood  sur- 
rounding the  little  church  at  Burdett,  located  out  on  the 
plains  seventeen  miles  from  the  railroad.  Burdett  is  a 
country  store  and  post  office  kept  by  an  elder  of  our  little 
church.  The  people  were  invited  to  bring  samples  of  vege- 
tables, grains  and  flowers  and  decorate  the  church,  and 
otherwise  display  the  products  of  their  labors.  A  large 
quantity  of  vegetables  and  grains  were  brought  in  and 
artistically  arranged  about  the  room  and  on  the  pulpit 
platform.  At  least  one  hundred  and  fifty  people  were 
present  and  enjoyed  the  program. 

At  noon  a  large  tent  was  erected  under  which  tables 
were  spread.  At  two  o'clock  a  game  of  ball  was  called  for 
all  who  wished  to  participate  and  in  which  the  pastor  took 
an  active  part  and  the  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school 
umpired.  While  this  was  in  progress  the  regular  pro- 
gram for  the  day  was  taken  up  for  the  benefit  of  those 
who  were  not  interested  in  the  ball  game,  and  two  hours 


THE  FIELD  25 

were  devoted  to  the  discussion  of  practical  Sunday-school 
topics.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  ball  game  the  participants 
came  in,  packing  the  house,  and  a  splendid  address  was 
delivered  by  the  pastor. 

The  spirit  of  the  whole  occasion  was  beautiful  to  wit- 
ness, and  the  people  departed  to  their  homes  with  the  con- 
scious feeling  of  having  spent  a  happy  profitable  day,  due 
recognition  having  been  given  to  the  bountiful  hand  of  a 
loving  heavenly  Father  who  had  so  graciously  and  abund- 
antly crowned  the  efforts  of  the  season  with  such  a 
harvest. 


EDUCATIONAL    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    WORK 

In  addition  to  its  pioneer  work  the  Sunday-School 
Board  is  not  unmindful  of  its  responsibility  to  the 
little  Sunday  schools  throughout  the  church  which 
are  struggling  along,  ofttimes  with  inefficient  lead- 
ers, and  with  correspondingly  inadequate  results. 
That  there  is  great  room  for  improvement  in  the 
organization  and  conducting  of  our  Sunday  schools 
is  universally  recognized.  The  feeling  has  arisen 
that  something  ought  to  be  done  by  the  church  at 
large  to  build  up  the  average  school,  the  small 
school  of  less  than  one  hundred  members,  training 
the  officers  and  teachers  and  reorganizing  their 
forces  for  efficient  service,  setting  before  them  a 
standard  of  excellence  and  helping  them  to  attain 
that  standard. 

This  feeling  was  voiced  by  the  General  Assembly 
of  1909,  which  instructed  the  Board  to  place  in  the 
field  selected  men  with  special  aptitude  for  work 
of  this  character ;  men  who  are  thoroughly  familiar 
with  all  phases  of  Sunday-school  work,  to  be  known 


26 


ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 


Duties  of 
Educational 
Superinten- 
dents 


as  Sunday-school  specialists.  Responding  to  these 
instructions  the  Board  immediately  undertook  this 
work  through  its  Sunday-School  Department,  ap- 
pointing several  such  workers  with  the  title  of  Dis- 
trict Educational  Superintendent,  each  being  as- 
signed to  a  synod  or  group  of  synods,  under  the 
supervision  of  the  Educational  Superintendent  of 
Sabbath- School  Missions,  located  at  headquarters. 
He  trains  and  encourages  the  field  workers,  keep- 
ing them  in  touch  with  the  latest  developments  in 
Sunday-school  method  and  practice.  The  slogan  is 
"Better  Sunday  Schools."  Whereas  the  work  of  the 
Sunday-school  missionary  is  extensive  in  character, 
the  educational  superintendent's  work  is  intensive. 
Briefly  stated,  the  following  are  the  duties  of  the 
district  educational  superintendent: 

1.  To  represent  the  Board  in  its  work  for  the  im- 
provement of  all  Presbyterian  Sunday  schools. 

2.  To  assist  Sunday  schools  in  his  district  which 
need  help  in  introducing  graded  lessons  and  other 
reforms. 

3.  To  keep  on  hand  and  distribute  leaflets  and 
other  literature  for  the  improvement  of  Sunday- 
school  work. 

4.  To  cooperate  with  the  Sunday-school  mission- 
aries in  his  field  for  the  improvement  of  the  mission 
and  other  Sunday  schools. 

5.  To  cooperate  with  the  presbyterial  committees 
on  Sunday-school  work. 

6.  To  hold  institutes  and  other  meetings  for  the 
encouragement  of  Presbyterian  workers  and  to  assist 
others  in  holding  such  meetings. 


THE  FIELD  27 

7.  To  encourage  the  formation  of  teacher-train- 
ing classes  and  to  supervise  all  Presbyterian  teacher- 
training  work  in  his  district. 

8.  To  enroll,  examine  and  recommend  to  the 
Board  for  diplomas,  all  teacher-training  classes 
which  desire  to  enroll  under  the  Presbyterian 
Church;  his  office  being  the  Presbyterian  head- 
quarters for  all  such  work  within  the  district. 

9.  To  cooperate  with  the  organized  adult  class 
movement  and  with  all  other  movements  for  im- 
proved Sunday-school  work. 

10.  To  aid  all  the  Sunday  schools  of  his  field  to 
attain  as  soon  as  possible  to  the  ten  points  of  the 
Westminster  Standard  of  Excellence. 

Thus  far  this  phase  of  the  work  has  accomplished 
gratifying  results.  The  district  educational  super- 
intendents find  the  demand  for  their  labors  far 
greater  than  they  can  meet.  These  men  have  al- 
ready rendered  valuable  service  in  stimulating  the 
demand  for  trained  teachers,  and  classes  for  the 
study  of  teacher-training  courses  have  been  organ- 
ized in  scores  of  Sunday  schools.  They  are  holding 
series  of  institutes  throughout  the  year  with  groups 
of  Sunday  schools  at  which  all  phases  of  Sunday- 
school  work  are  discussed.  They  are  showing  even 
the  little  school  with  its  limited  equipment  that  it  is 
not  necessary  for  its  work  to  be  conducted  in  a 
haphazard  way,  but  that  they  also,  by  the  applica- 
tion and  adaptation  of  modem  Sunday-school  ideals 
may  attain  a  standard  of  efficiency  equal,  in  its 
way,  to  that  of  schools  possessing  better  advantages. 
One  of  these  workers  writes : 
3 


28  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

Teacher-  In    rural    places    alone    twelve    teacher-training    classes 

Training  were  organized,  with  a  membership  of  eighty-one ;  -while 
ten  others  live  too  far  away  to  join  a  class.  They  are 
studying  the  course  by  themselves.  In  our  larger  centers 
the  normal  work  progresses,  but  not  rapidly.  That  any 
school  can  have  a  training  class  if  it  so  desires  may  be 
judged  from  the  class  that  graduated  at  Sand  Creek,  four 
miles  from  the  station  and  without  an  organized  church. 


This  is  a  work  that  is  destined  for  great  things 
in  Sunday-school  development.  While  interdenomi- 
national organizations  are  in  many  cases  providing 
the  stimulus  by  their  periodical  conventions,  it  re- 
mains for  each  denomination  to  get  into  close  touch 
with  the  workers  of  the  individual  school ;  to  show 
them  a  vision  of  larger  things ;  to  enable  them  to 
adapt  to  their  own  needs,  the  various  methods  of 
work  that  are  constantly  being  exploited.  Thus  we 
see  that  the  Sunday-School  Board  labors  not  only 
for  the  extension  of  the  influence  of  the  Sunday 
school  in  godless  communities,  but  also  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  work  of  existing  schools  through- 
out the  entire  church. 
Sunday-  In  3.  siugle  year  more  than  one  thousand  Sunday- 

Schooi  school  institutes  were  held  at  which  three  thousand 

Institutes 

Sunday  schools  were  represented.  Presbyteries 
and  synods,  realizing  the  importance  of  the  work  in 
and  for  the  Sunday  school,  are  adopting  the  plan 
of  an  annual  institute  for  the  discussion  of  Sunday- 
school  topics.  As  increasing  emphasis  is  thus  be- 
ing placed  upon  the  necessity  of  efficiency  in  this 
work  of  soul  culture  for  the  youth  of  our  Sunday 
schools,  good  results  are  bound  to  follow.    Not  only 


THE  FIELD  29 

will  the  Sunday  school  and  its  methods  of  work  be 
brought  to  a  higher  standard,  but  all  of  our  work- 
ers in  the  Sunday  school  will  have  a  higher  appre- 
ciation of  the  responsibility  of  the  service  in  which 
they  are  engaged ;  they  will  see  the  necessity  for 
equipping  themselves  thoroughly  as  "workmen  that 
needeth  not  to  be  ashamed,"  and  our  pupils,  to  a 
corresponding  degree  will  be  better  prepared  for 
lives  of  Christian  consecration  and  usefulness. 

Synods  not  yet  supplied  with  such  workers  are 
calling  for  them,  and  the  Board  will  enlarge  this 
phase  of  its  activities  as  rapidly  as  its  funds  permit. 


THE  NORTHERN   PRAIRIES 


The  simple  organization  of  the  Sunday  school  makes  it 
peculiarly  fitted  for  the  special  service  it  has  rendered  in 
the  rural  parts  of  our  land.  As  a  force  for  the  evangelization 
of  urban  and  rural  life  it  is  greater  than  it  has  been  at  any 
previous  time.  There  are  two  phases  of  Sunday-school  work : 
the  first  is  an  evangelizing  agency  in  pJaces  where  no  local 
church  exists ;  the  second  is  as  a  part  of  the  regular  work 
of  an  established  local  church.  In  the  first,  it  is  a  pioneer ; 
in  the  second,  it  is  "the  Bible-studying-and-teaching  service 
of  the  church." — J.  O.  Ashenhurst. 

Our  Sunday  schools  are  the  pioneers  of  Christianity  and 
of  Presbyterianism.  Few  places  can  be  found  in  this  country 
where  the  mission  Sunday  school  has  not  preceded  and  pro- 
duced the  organized  church.  For  years  the  home  mission 
forces  of  our  church  have  followed  a  "blazed  trail"  in  their 
work  throughout  the  West  and  South  because  others  have 
gone  before  them,  visiting  homes,  gathering  the  children  into 
Sunday  schools,  thus  introducing  the  gospel  and  the  estab- 
lished means  of  grace.  The  agency  through  which  this 
work  has  been  done  has  been  the  Board  of  Publication  and 
Sabbath-School  Work,  laboring  through  Sunday-school  mis- 
sionaries who  are  the  real  pioneers  of  Presbyterianism  in  this 
country. — E.   Trumbull  Lee. 

I  am  growingly  impressed  with  the  vital  importance  of 
our  Sunday-school  work,  and  also  with  the  tireless  devotion 
with  which  our  synodical  missionary  and  his  coworkers 
are  pushing  the  cause  of  our  Sunday-School  Board.  No  more 
imperative  responsibility  rests  upon  our  churches  than  in 
connection  with  sustaining  their  labors.  No  investments  bring 
larger  or  quicker  dividends  than  those  made  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  young  in  Bible  knowledge,  which  is  essential  to 
the  safeguarding  of  our  national  life  and  the  saving  of  future 
generations  to  Christ.  I  feel  confident  that  the  churches  will 
be  stirred  to  greater  efforts  to  make  the  waste  places  rejoice 
and  blossom  with  the  planting  of  the  Rose  of  Sharon. — 
/.  E.  Bushnell. 


32 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  NORTHERN  PRAIRIES 

MINNESOTA   AND   WISCONSIN 

The  Sunday-school  missionary  has  left  the  im- 
press of  his  influence  in  hundreds  of  communities 
scattered  over  the  plains  where  he  has  been  the  first 
and  in  many  cases,  for  a  considerable  length  of 
time,  the  only  gospel  messenger. 

From  the  discovery  of  St.  Anthony  Falls  in  1680,  Minnesota 
by  Father  Hennepin,  to  the  establishment  of  a 
trading  post  at  St.  Paul  in  1851,  Minnesota  was 
frontier  country  in  every  sense  of  the  word.  The 
entire  population  of  Minnesota  in  1850  was  a  little 
more  than  six  thousand.  According  to  the  census 
of  1 910  the  population  was  two  million  seventy-five 
thousand. 

Navigable  rivers  and  an  extensive  system  of  rail- 
roads (over  eighty-five  hundred  miles)  have  made 
it  easy  for  the  European  immigrant  to  reach  the 
interior  of  the  state  by  direct  routes,  with  the  natural 
result  that  there  has  been  a  large  influx  of  foreign- 
ers. About  three  fifths  are  from  the  Scandinavian 
peninsula.  They  are  thrifty  and  industrious,  and 
they  are  raising  up  a  race  of  sturdy  Americans  that 
are  filling  important  oflices  in  business,  political 
and  professional  life. 

Sunday-school  missions  is  the  medium  through  Seizing 

Strateg* 
Points 

33 


which   the    Presbyterian   Church   has    operated   to    ^"^"''^"^ 


34  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

take  the  gospel  to  these  newly  settled  parts.  When 
the  Board  of  Publication  and  Sabbath- School  Work 
entered  Minnesota,  the  field  was  ripe  for  the  launch- 
ing of  an  aggressive  missionary  movement.  Itin- 
erant Sunday-school  missionary  work  which  could 
adapt  itself  to  a  field  of  such  widely  diversified  con- 
ditions as  Minnesota,  was,  as  it  is  to-day,  the  only 
successful  method  by  which  the  gospel  could  be  in- 
troduced into  new  communities  in  the  rural  districts. 
But  the  work  must  be  done  systematically ;  strategic 
points  must  be  seized;  adjacent  fields  must  be 
grouped  to  form  a  preaching  circuit  for  the  home 
missionary;  diplomacy  must  be  exercised  in  deal- 
ing with  opposing  forces  and  in  winning  them  to 
the  cause  of  truth. 

To  find  a  man  with  the  qualifications  to  meet  such 
conditions  seemed  a  difficult  problem,  but  God  raised 
up  Robert  F.  Sulzer,  who  had  been  in  training  for 
a  number  of  years  in  mission  work  among  children 
in  eastern  cities.  And  he  was  equal  to  the  situa- 
tion. With  an  intensity  of  earnestness  in  proclaim- 
ing the  "good  news";  with  a  marvelous  foresight 
in  building  for  the  future,  and  with  an  unusual 
faculty  for  enlisting  workers,  he  has  led  the  pioneer 
forces  of  Presbyterianism  across  the  prairie  and 
through  the  great  pine  forests,  establishing  mission 
Sunday  schools  and  developing  them  into  Presby- 
terian churches ;  encouraging  other  weak  churches, 
and  visiting  from  house  to  house  and  setting  up  the 
family  altar  in  thousands  of  homes.  In  the  days  of 
beginnings,  when  traveling  was  difficult  and  settle- 
ments widely  scattered,  the  task  that  lay  before  the 


-^ff*'  "^      ■^[■■■■■■l— — 


1.  Mr.  Edwin  H.  Grant. 

2.  Rev.  Joseph    Brown. 

3.  A  homesteader  just  arrived   on   his  claim. 

4.  Rev.  Edwin  M.  Ellis. 

5.  Mr.  Robert  F.  Sulzer. 


Developed 


THE  NORTHERN  PRAIRIES  35 

Sunday-school  missionary  was  one  which  required 
firm  faith  and  a  strong-hearted  determination. 

As  the  state  has  developed  other  workers  have 
been  added  and  assigned  to  the  various  presbyteries. 
It  is  due  to  their  united  labors  that  Minnesota  stands 
at  the  forefront  of  the  western  states  in  its  record 
of  aggressive  pioneer  mission  work,  showing  re- 
sults that  amply  justify  the  investment  of  means 
and  energy. 

Twenty-five  years  of  Sunday-school  missions  in  Churches^ 
this  state  show  twenty-four  hundred  Sunday 
schools  organized,  with  a  membership  of  eighty 
thousand,  out  of  which  two  hundred  and  two  Pres- 
byterian churches  have  been  developed.  These 
churches  have  erected  buildings  valued  at  nearly 
three  hundred  thousand  dollars.  In  the  course  of 
their  labors  the  Sunday-school  missionaries  have 
visited  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  thousand  six 
hundred  and  ninety-two  families  in  prairie  home- 
steads, in  the  mining  and  lumber  camps  and  in  the 
small  towns  and  villages  that  have  sprung  into  ex- 
istence throughout  the  state.  Adams  Presbytery  is 
largely  the  result  of  Sunday-school  missions.  Mr. 
Thomas  Scotton  reports  thirty-seven  Presbyterian 
churches  as  the  result  of  his  twenty  years  of 
Sunday-school  missionary  labors.  The  missionaries 
of  the  Home  Mission  Board  have  faithfully  followed 
the  Sabbath-school  missionaries,  providing  regular 
preaching  services  and  thus  making  it  possible  for 
the  Sunday-school  workers  to  push  forward  into 
new  and  unoccupied  fields.  One  missionary  gives 
this  glimpse  of  the  character  of  the  work: 


36  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

I  visited  a  town  with  three  hundred  people  that  never 
had  a  Sunday  school  or  church  of  any  kind,  but  they  did 
have  seven  saloons.  When  I  saw  the  boys  rolling  beer 
kegs  across  the  street  and  into  the  saloons,  I  shuddered 
to  think  of  their  future. 

I  visited  the  business  men  and  explained  my  mission. 
They  agreed  that  I  could  not  do  anything  there.  One 
gentleman  took  me  aside  and  said,  "I  would  dislike  very 
much  to  see  you  leave  town  discouraged,  so  in  my  judg- 
ment the  best  thing  for  you  to  do  is  to  leave  town  be- 
fore you  undertake  to  do  anything."  I  told  him  I  would 
stay  and  fight  it  out.  "If  you  feel  that  way  about  it,"  he 
said,  "you  can  depend  on  me,  and  I  will  do  all  I  can  to 
help  you." 

We  secured  a  place  in  which  to  hold  a  meeting,  the 
hour  of  service  was  set,  the  homes,  places  of  business  and 
saloons  included  were  visited  and  all  invited  to  attend 
the  service.  After  doing  all  this  I  felt  that  one  thing 
more  must  be  done  to  stir  the  people.  So  I  took  my 
stand  on  the  street  corner  between  two  saloons  and  sang 
a  gospel  song.  Then  I  invited  all  present  to  attend  the 
meeting.  The  meeting  was  held.  The  attendance  was  not 
large,  but  we  advertised  services  to  continue  every  night 
for  the  remainder  of  the  week. 

The  next  day  when  visiting  the  homes,  I  was  passing 
the  blacksmith  shop.  I  saw  that  the  blacksmith  could 
not  hope  to  attend  to  the  wants  of  all  who  were  gathered 
there.  They  were  quarreling  among  themselves  as  to  who 
should  have  first  attention.  Seeing  my  opportunity,  I 
stepped  up  to  the  smith  and  offered  to  help  him.  "Are 
you  a  blacksmith?"  he  asked.  "Yes,"  I  said.  "But  you  will 
soil  your  hands  and  clothing,"  he  urged.  "Never  you  mind 
that,"  I  replied,  "give  me  an  apron  and  I  will  help  you 
out."  He  did  so,  and  I  stepped  to  an  idle  forge,  built  a 
fire,  and  soon  I  was  turning  out  work  with  the  greatest  of 
ease  and  pleasure. 

I  think  it  would  be  safe  to  say  that  before  evening 
every  man  in  town  came  as  far  as  the  door  of  the  shop. 


THE  NORTHERN  PRAIRIES  37 

That  night  the  congregation  more  than  doubled,  and  we 
had — what  we  did  not  have  at  the  first  service — a  goodly 
number  of  men.  Services  were  continued  every  night  of 
the  week  with  increasing  interest. 

On  Sunday  morning  we  met  in  the  schoolhouse  for 
another  service,  and  then  the  first  Sunday  school  in  the 
town  was  organized.  In  the  early  winter  a  series  of  meet- 
ings was  held  in  which  a  number  were  converted,  a  church 
was  organized,  and  steps  were  taken  to  build  a  church. 

I  want  to  tell  you  about  a  doctor  that  was  converted. 
He  had  lost  his  reputation,  and  his  practice  was  largely 
gone,  but  in  that  meeting  he  became  a  new  creature  in 
Christ,  saved  from  the  sin  of  drunkenness.  He  united 
with  the  church  as  one  of  the  charter  members;  later  he 
was  elected  as  chairman  of  the  Building  Committee.  He 
superintended  the  building  of  that  church,  and  when  not 
engaged  in  his  practice  he  could  be  found  with  hammer 
or  saw  hard  at  work  on  the  building,  trying  to  honor  him 
who  had  saved  him  from  a  life  of  sin. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  has  reason  to  be  proud 
of  the  achievements  of  her  Sunday-school  mission- 
aries in  Minnesota.  Nowhere  have  the  principles  of 
this  form  of  pioneer  work  been  better  demonstrated 
and  their  effectiveness  better  proven.  The  seed  is 
still  being  sown.  Four  hundred  thousand  children 
are  yet  outside  the  Sunday  school.  The  Sunday- 
school  missionary  will  continue  to  be  the  church's 
advance  guard  in  this  state  for  many  years  to 
come. 

Very  little  was  known  concerning  the  needs  of  Wisconsin 
the  rural  population  of  Wisconsin  when  our  Board 
was  called  upon  to  enter  that  field.     But  Sunday- 
school  missionary  work,  with  the  cooperation  of  the 
home  mission  forces,  has  wrought  a  transformation. 


38  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

Seventy-eight  new  Presbyterian  churches  have  been 
organized  as  the  outgrowth  of  these  labors. 

Our  Sunday-school  missionary  work  in  Wiscon- 
sin is  carried  forward  in  a  manner  that  promises 
permanence.  In  a  country  district,  in  Winnebago 
Presbytery,  the  first  Sunday-school  mission  chapel 
was  erected  twenty-three  years  ago,  at  a  cost  of  a 
little  more  than  one  hundred  dollars.  Since  that 
time  fifty  such  chapels  have  been  erected,  at  dif- 
ferent points  throughout  the  state,  through  the 
generosity  of  churches,  Sunday  schools  and  indi- 
viduals who  have  seen  in  such  work  an  opportunity 
of  helping  toward  the  early  development  of  these 
mission  Sunday  schools  into  churches.  In  nearly 
every  community  where  a  chapel  is  built  a  Presby- 
terian church  develops. 

The  good  influence  of  these  mission  Sunday 
schools  was  demonstrated  in  a  unique  way  at  a 
Children's  Day  celebration  in  a  Sunday  school  which 
has  developed  from  very  weak  and  unpromising 
beginnings.  A  tableau  was  presented  showing  the 
character  of  the  community  before  the  Sunday- 
school  missionary  visited  it.  Young  men  and 
women  were  seated  around  tables  playing  cards ; 
others  were  dancing,  and  beer  bottles  occupied  a 
conspicuous  place.  The  second  scene,  showing  the 
difference  after  the  Sunday  school  had  been  doing 
its  good  work  for  several  years,  presented  a  picture 
of  the  ideal  home.  The  parents  and  children  were 
seated  about  the  home  table,  studying  and  reading 
the  Bible,  Sunday-school  papers  and  library  books. 

One  of  the  earliest  of  the  missionary  pioneers  in 


THE  NORTHERN  PRAIRIES 


39 


Wisconsin  was  Rev.  Joseph  Brown  —  "Father" 
Brown,  as  he  is  affectionately  spoken  of  by  many 
of  the  people  in  the  country  districts.  Mr.  Brown 
tells  this  of  the  beginning  of  his  work: 

On  the  ninth  of  July,  1888,  I  reached  Stevens'  Point  An  itinerant 
and  reported  to  Rev.  Waher  Frame  (now  deceased)  who  Missionary 
was  at  that  time  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  of 
that  city.  He  greeted  me  most  cordially  and  gave  me  my 
first  instructions  as  to  the  manner  in  which  my  work 
was  to  be  performed.  Standing  before  the  map  of  Wis- 
consin, with  pencil  in  hand,  he  sketched  my  pathway  from 
Stevens'  Point  to  Ashland,  across  to  West  Superior, 
thence  down  by  Spooner  to  Chippewa  Falls  and  Eau 
Claire,  and  back  again  to  Stevens'  Point  by  way  of  Ab- 
botsford,  saying  as  he  did  so :  "Stop  at  all  the  stations 
along  these  lines,  go  out  into  the  country  homes  to  the 
right  and  left,  find  out  the  needs  of  the  people,  do  what 
you  can  to  meet  them,  and  then  report  to  us.  Personally 
we  pastors  do  not  know  the  spiritual  needs  of  these  coun- 
try regions.  Do  your  best,  organize  as  many  Sunday 
schools  as  you  can,  hold  gospel  meetings  in  the  homes 
of  the  people  and  in  schoolhouses ;  do  all  this  in  humble 
dependence  upon  God,  and  may  his  richest  blessing  rest 
upon  you." 

With  this  broad  commission,  Mr.  Brown  went 
forth  in  the  strength  of  Christ  and  the  victories  of 
his  faith  have  been  many.  Others  came  upon  the 
field  later.  Their  work  is  not  less  fruitful,  and 
they  are  doing  their  part  most  faithfully  in  train- 
ing the  boys  and  girls  in  the  outlying  localities  for 
Christian  life  and  service. 

In  these  two  states  the  first  educational  Sunday- 
school  worker  began  his  labors,  and  here  the  value 
of  these  labors  is  being  fully  demonstrated.     The 


40  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

synods  have  expressed  themselves  in  enthusiastic 
terms  concerning  the  upHft  which  is  being  given 
to  their  Sunday  schools  through  his  efforts.  The 
results  of  this  form  of  work  in  Minnesota  and  Wis- 
consin have  encouraged  other  synods  to  ask  for 
educational  superintendents.  These  requests  will 
be  granted  as  rapidly  as  the  Board  finds  itself  able 
to  support  them. 

NORTH    DAKOTA,   SOUTH   DAKOTA  AND  EASTERN 

MONTANA 

Much  of  this  district — covering  about  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  thousand  square  miles — is  still 
pioneer  territory.  It  is  real  missionary  ground. 
While  in  North  Dakota  especially  there  are  quite  a 
number  of  foreigners,  American  settlers  are  pouring 
in  from  the  middle  west  and  homesteading  large 
tracts  of  land.  Within  the  past  twenty  years  the 
population  of  this  vast  region  has  increased  two 
and  one  half  times.  Large  areas  which  formerly 
were  government  reservations  have  been  thrown 
open  to  settlement,  and  tens  of  thousands,  attracted 
by  alluring  advertisements  and  convincing  stories 
of  the  productiveness  of  the  soil,  have  made  home- 
stead entries.  In  one  section  of  North  Dakota  there 
were  as  many  as  twelve  thousand  entries  in  a  single 
month,  and  it  is  estimated  that  at  least  fifty  thou- 
sand new  families  migrated  to  that  state  within  a 
single  year.  In  his  book,  "The  Greater  America," 
Mr.  Paine  thus  graphically  describes  the  arrival  of 
the  homesteader: 


THE  NORTHERN  PRAIRIES  41 

Each  family  was  permitted  to  take,  free  of  railroad  The  Home- 
charge,  ten  head  of  live  stock,  together  with  household  **=""*"■ 
goods  and  farming  implements.  When  their  train  trailed 
up  into  the  new  land  the  pilgrims  were  emptied  into  little 
towns  just  springing  up,  or  dropped  upon  the  bare  and 
open  prairie,  one  hundred  here,  two  hundred  there.  Once 
a  party  of  two  thousand  overflowed  one  village  of  four 
hundred  people.  The  few  settlers  who  had  arrived  be- 
fore them  drove  in  from  many  miles  around  and  helped 
the  newcomers  as  best  they  could.  The  freight  cars  were 
backed  on  sidings  and  used  to  sleep  in  until  the  immi- 
grants could  build  their  own  homes.  Every  dwelling, 
store,  church  and  schoolhouse  within  twenty  miles  was 
filled  to  overflowing  with  these  families. 

Within  a  week,  however,  the  overflow  had  vanished 
from  the  little  towns  and  the  freight  cars  on  the  prairie 
siding  lost  their  lodgers.  The  immigrants  brought  their 
horses  and  farm  wagons  with  them.  As  soon  as  their 
homestead  claims  were  located  and  filed,  they  hauled  out 
lumber  to  build  shacks,  or  with  the  help  of  neighbors  made 
their  sod  houses.  Then  the  homesteader  loaded  his  fam- 
ily, his  household  goods,  and  his  farming  tools  into  his 
wagon,  and  trailed  out  across  the  prairie  to  his  new  home. 
The  day  after  he  had  put  the  house  to  rights  he  began 
to  break  land  for  the  spring  sowing  of  wheat.  The  prairie 
seemed  fairly  to  swallow  these  thousands  of  settlers  and 
to  cry  for  more. 

South  Dakota  and  eastern  Montana  have  shared 
in  this  inrush  of  new  settlers.  The  opening  of  the 
Rosebud  Indian  Reservation,  the  Cheyenne  River 
Indian  Reservation,  and  other  pubhc  lands  has 
brought  hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres  under  cul- 
tivation. The  railroads,  too,  have  contributed  largely 
to  the  development  of  this  section.  They  are 
obliged  to  lay  out  new  towns  every  twelve  miles. 
As  soon  as  the  prospective  railroad  extension  is 


New  Settlers 


42  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

surveyed  a  few  board  shacks  will  be  erected  for  a 
store,  a  saloon,  hotel,  and  so  forth,  and  thus  towns 
are  started.  Sometimes  the  course  of  the  railroad 
is  changed,  and  it  is  not  unusual  to  see  a  new  town 
put  on  wheels  and  moved  to  another  site  in  order  to 
be  on  the  line  of  the  new  road. 

How  can  the  church  keep  pace  with  this  rapid 
development?     It  must  throw  out   its   picket  line 
reaching  across  these  great  stretches  of  prairie,  seiz- 
ing these  places  in  their  infancy  for  Christ. 
Needs  of  Thc  Synod  of  North  Dakota  recently  erected  a 

new  presbytery  comprising  the  counties  of  Ward, 
Williams  and  a  part  of  McLean  and  McKenzie. 
This  is  a  territory  of  about  ten  thousand  three  hun- 
dred and  thirty-four  square  miles,  all  of  which  has 
been  newly  settled  by  homesteaders.  In  a  single 
year,  in  Williams  and  McKenzie  counties  alone,  over 
six  thousand  homestead  entries  were  made ;  bring- 
ing an  addition  to  the  population  of  at  least  twenty 
thousand.  Ward  County  alone  is  nearly  as  large  as 
the  state  of  Connecticut,  and  in  McKenzie  County, 
so  far  as  we  know,  no  regular  religious  services 
were  held  previous  to  the  coming  of  the  Sunday- 
school  missionary. 

We  have  a  few  home  mission  churches  scattered 
over  this  vast  territory,  and  if  Sunday  schools  could 
be  planted  around  them,  they  would  soon  be  self- 
supporting,  and  would  be  able  to  build  church 
homes.  Thus  the  work  would  be  greatly  advanced. 
The  few  who  have  religious  privileges  are  now 
worshiping  in  schoolhouses,  halls,  homesteaders' 
shacks  and  even  barns  and  wagon  sheds,  while  many 


THE  NORTHERN  PRAIRIES 


43 


other   communities    are    entirely    destitute    of    any 
means  of  grace. 

Growing  accustomed  to  their  lack  of  religious  life, 
the  people  soon  become  indifferent  and  drift  away 
into  worldliness,  Sunday-breaking  and  all  kinds  of 
wrongdoing,  and  the  children  are  left  to  do  just  as 
they  are  inclined.  As  there  is  no  gospel  service  or 
Sunday  school  to  attend,  Sunday  is  spent  in  hunt- 
ing, baseball  and  other  recreations.  Branches  of 
the  great  railway  systems  are  building  into  this  new 
part  of  the  state  and  new  towns  are  springing  up. 
They  should  be  held  as  strategic  points.  The  Sun- 
day-school missionary  is  the  only  representative 
of  the  church  to  do  this  new  and  pioneer  work  and 
bring  salvation  to  the  lost.  He  not  only  organizes 
a  Sunday  school,  but  he  secures  a  town  lot  for  the 
church  building  which  follows  after.  He  keeps  in 
close  touch  with  the  leading  people,  and  gathers  sub- 
scriptions toward  paying  a  neighboring  minister  for 
occasional  preaching  services.  In  the  meantime  he 
arranges  for  holding  the  Sunday-school  sessions  in 
the  upper  room  of  a  store,  or  in  the  town 
hall. 

One  of  the  chief  advantages  of  the  mission  Sun- 
day school  in  these  new  localities  is  that  it  can  be 
maintained  without  the  necessity  of  a  large  initial 
outlay.  In  many  cases  the  gospel  seed  has  found 
fruitful  soil  in  the  hearts  of  boys  and  girls  gath- 
ered about  the  stove  in  a  homesteader's  shack,  and 
there  has  been  an  abundant  harvest.  Out  of  such 
humble  beginnings  some  of  the  best  churches  in 
these  prairie  states  have  grown. 
4 


44  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

One  presbytery  in  the  western  part  of  North  Da- 
kota comprises  nearly  one  third  of  the  state.  It 
covers  a  territory  as  large  as  the  German  Empire. 
The  chairman  of  the  Sunday-School  Committee  of 
the  Presbytery  traveled  a  hundred  miles  to  reach  one 
mission  school  and  one  organized  church.  The 
thermometer  registered  forty  degrees  below  zero, 
but  the  little  chapel  was  crowded.  There  were 
young  people  present  who  had  come  sixteen  miles 
through  the  snow  and  cold.  Such  a  field  requires  at 
least  three  Sunday-school  missionaries.  One  such 
worker  has  been  laboring  here  with  splendid  re- 
sults, but  how  much  more  might  be  accomplished 
if  he  could  divide  the  field  with  one  or  two  other 
missionaries ! 

There  are  hundreds  of  mission  schools  scattered 
over  these  prairies  which  never  have  developed  and 
probably  never  will  develop  into  churches.  The 
community  may  be  small  and  the  financial  ability  of 
the  people  may  never  be  sufficiently  large  to  sup- 
port a  settled  pastor.  Such  schools  the  missionary 
keeps  under  his  own  pastoral  care,  visiting  them  as 
he  has  opportunity,  encouraging  the  officers  and 
teachers,  supplying  them  with  suitable  literature  and 
helping  them  in  every  possible  way  to  make  the 
Sunday  school  a  factor  in  the  community.  For  in- 
stance, a  little  crossroads  Sunday  school  was 
started  about  twelve  miles  from  the  nearest  town 
in  a  needy  section  of  Minnesota.  The  community 
could  not  support  a  church,  and  the  Sunday-school 
missionary  was  the  only  pastor  they  knew.  A  little 
distance  down  the  road  were  two  saloons,  both  do- 


THE  NORTHERN  PRAIRIES  45 

ing  a  good  business.  Side  by  side  these  agents  of 
Satan  and  of  Christ  worked  for  three  years,  each 
striving  to  overcome  the  influence  of  the  other.  But 
the  Httle  Sunday  school  won  the  fight,  and  the  boys 
are  now  being  trained  for  Christian  living  instead 
of  for  the  saloon,  since  both  saloons  were  obliged 
to  close  their  doors. 

The  people  in  these  unchurched  sections  of  the 
Northwest  are  not  godless  because  they  prefer  to  be, 
but  because  of  our  neglect.  The  Sunday-school  mis- 
sionary, after  tacking  a  notice  on  the  door  of  the 
village  store  announcing  that  he  will  hold  a  preach- 
ing service  immediately  following  the  Sunday  school, 
is  greeted  by  a  crowded  schoolhouse.  It  is  not  an 
unusual  sight  to  see  the  room  filled  to  overflowing 
and  a  group  of  men — a  strong  sturdy  type  of  men 
they  are — standing  outside  at  the  windows  listening 
eagerly  to  every  word  that  falls  from  the  mission- 
ary's lips. 

We  need  to  catch  a  vision  of  the  greatness  of  For  a  Higher 
the  opportunity  in  this  work  of  laying  the  foun- 
dations for  Christian  lives  and  for  the  work  of  the 
settled  ministry.  The  boys  and  girls  who  to-day 
are  in  these  little  schools,  will  some  day  wield  an 
influence  for  good  or  evil.  If  they  go  to  the  city, 
what  shall  they  contribute  toward  its  betterment? 
If  they  go  to  college,  as  so  many  of  the  boys  and 
girls  from  these  prairies  do,  will  they  have  had  a 
predilection  toward  the  gospel  ministry  or  the  mis- 
sion field  in  heathen  lands?  When  they  enter  busi- 
ness or  professional  life  will  they  sacrifice  them- 
selves to  greed  and  corruption,  or  will  they  stand 


46  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

firm   and    immovable   in   advocating  the   cause  of 
truth  and  honesty? 

These  are  questions  which  must  concern  us  vitally 
as  a  nation  and  as  a  church.  To  evade  them  is  sin- 
ful. To  strive  for  their  solution  is  the  great  mis- 
sion and  responsibility  of  the  church.  We  have  only 
played  at  this  task.  When  the  importance  of  the 
religious  training  of  the  boys  and  girls  of  the  west- 
ern plains  is  before  us  in  its  proper  perspective,  we 
begin  to  see  how  poor  and  insufficient  has  been  our 
investment  for  its  support  in  the  past.  It  is  not  a 
cause  which  may  be  left  to  the  children  of  the  Sun- 
day school  to  support,  but  one  to  which  every  Chris- 
tian should  give  first  consideration  in  spending  the 
Lord's  money.  It  is  estimated  that  a  presidential 
campaign  costs  several  millions  of  dollars.  In  the 
twenty-five  years  of  our  Sunday-school  missions, 
two  and  one  half  million  dollars  have  been  con- 
tributed, and  the  harvest  of  souls  won  for  Christ  is 
beyond  telling.     The  church  is  awakening. 

In  the  three  synods  of  North  Dakota,  South  Da- 
kota and  Montana,  two  hundred  and  fifty-seven 
Presbyterian  churches  have  been  developed  from  the 
pioneer  work  of  Sunday-school  missionaries  dur- 
ing twenty-five  years.  The  Board  of  Publication 
and  Sabbath-School  Work  has  fourteen  Sunday- 
school  missionaries  at  work  in  this  region,  two  of 
whom  are  synodical  superintendents  and  one  is  a 
district  superintendent. 
Consecrated  A  word  should  bc  Said  in  passing  concerning  the 
labors  of  those  who  have  directed  the  work  in  these 
synods.    It  was  Mr.  James  B.  Clapp,  a  consecrated 


THE  NORTHERN  PRAIRIES  47 

layman,  who  opened  and  developed  North  Dakota 
as  a  mission  field.  Not  sparing  himself  he  traveled 
for  many  years,  by  all  sorts  of  conveyances,  through- 
out that  region  organizing  and  developing  schools 
and  encouraging  the  workers.  With  rare  talent  as 
a  singer  and  by  the  persuasiveness  of  his  message  he 
led  thousands  of  souls  into  the  kingdom.  While  he 
has  been  called  to  his  reward,  precious  fruit  is  still 
being  garnered  from  his  sowing.  This  synod  is 
now  grouped  with  Minnesota  under  Mr.  Robert  F. 
Sulzer. 

In  South  Dakota  we  have  another  example  of  the 
effectiveness  of  lay  service  in  this  branch  of  mis- 
sionary work.  Here  Mr.  Edwin  H.  Grant  has 
labored  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  loved  and  revered 
throughout  that  whole  region.  His  influence  upon 
the  lives  of  young  and  old  and  his  self-sacrificing 
humility  in  the  service  of  Qirist  have  been  the  means 
of  transforming  many  a  wayside  home. 

The  Montana  work  is  supervised  by  a  veteran  in 
the  service,  Rev.  Edwin  M.  Ellis  a  man  of  deep 
piety  and  missionary  zeal.  A  feature  of  Mr.  Ellis' 
work  has  been  the  establishment  of  home  classes 
among  widely  scattered  settlers  who  were  prohibited 
by  long  distances,  from  gathering  together  in  Sun- 
day schools.  In  this  way  hundreds  of  families 
in  their  lonely  prairie  homes  are  studying  the  Sun- 
day-school lessons  regularly.  Mr.  Ellis  has  one 
of  the  most  needy  synods  in  the  entire  West,  and 
with  the  limited  means  at  his  disposal  to  support 
workers,  he  is  opening  many  promising  fields  for 
the  church  in  that  vast  territory. 


THE  MIDDLE  WEST 


In  a  state  so  well  churched  as  Kansas  even,  there  is  one 
whole  county — Grant — which  has  no  church  organization. 
Haskell  County  has  only  two  ministers ;  Morton  County 
only  one.  In  Washington  there  is  a  valley  six  miles  wide 
and  sixty  miles  long  already  well  filled  with  settlers,  and 
of  them  all  not  one  fifth  are  to-day  within  any  reasonable 
reach  of  Christian  worship — to  say  nothing  of  Christian  pas- 
toral services  in  their  homes.  These  are  but  samples  of  a 
condition  quite  common  through  the  West — regions  of  wide 
extent  wholly  neglected  in  home  mission  enterprise,  while 
there  is  an  absolute  scramble  of  rivalry  to  keep  a  footing  in 
other  places  that  would  be  better  ofif  with  less  attention.  Of 
course,  the  neglected  districts  are  those  less  promising  of 
growth  and  wealth — less  likely  to  develop  "self-supporting 
churches."  But  on  that  very  account  the  struggling  settlers 
need  the  comfort  of  religious  ministrations  all  the  more.  All 
the  home  mission  agencies  of  the  nation,  in  fact,  ought  to 
have  an  infusion  of  more  courage  to  undertake  work  never 
expected  to  "come  to  self-support."  The  great  construction 
camps  along  irrigation  and  railroad  projects,  for  instance, 
are  temporary  communities  soon  to  disappear,  but  they  ought 
to  have  preaching  while  they  last.  Many  a  mining  camp, 
even  though  permanent,  is  passed  by  because  there  aren't 
enough  Christian  people  in  it  to  make  a  church  organization. 
— Nolan  R.  Best. 


SO 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

This  section  has  outgrown  its  former  classifica- 
tion as  frontier  missionary  ground.  Indeed  it  is  be- 
coming more  and  more  a  helper  in  sending  forth 
laborers  into  white  harvest  fields  further  west. 

We  are  not  accustomed  to  consider  the  Synod  of  Illinois 
Illinois  as  missionary  ground,  yet  at  a  recent  meet- 
ing of  that  synod  one  of  the  leading  pastors  who 
has  studied  the  missionary  situation,  made  a  strong 
appeal  for  an  aggressive  Sunday-school  missionary 
campaign.    He  said: 

Calhoun  County,  the  best  apple  county  in  the  state, 
spells  opportunity  to  the  Presbyterian  Church.  While 
there  conducting  special  meetings,  I  met  a  young  man 
who  later  came  out  as  a  Christian,  who  had  not  the  least 
understanding  of  the  Scriptures  or  of  the  plan  of  salva- 
tion. He  asked  me  "Why  did  they  kill  Jesus?  Did  he 
do  anything  mean?"  "No,"  I  answered,  "Jesus  never  did 
anything  wrong."  "That's  what  I  thought,"  he  said.  He 
was  raised  in  a  German  Lutheran  home  and  community 
w'here  all  the  service  is  in  German,  but  he  does  not  under- 
stand it,  and  so  gets  nothing  out  of  the  service.  And  he  is 
one  of  very  many  who  might  be  reached.  My  pastorates 
for  thirteen  years  were  in  Iowa,  so  that  I  was  familiar 
with  conditions  and  with  the  splendid  results  of  the  Sun- 
day-school missionary  work  there.  Coming  to  Illinois  two 
years  ago,  I  quickly  discovered  the  great  need  of  just  such 
workers  here.  I  did  not  dream  the  need  was  so  appalling 
in  this   great  state. 

SI 


52  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

Calhoun  County  is  without  a  railroad,  and  many  can 
be  found  in  these  sorely  neglected  districts  who  can  neither 
read  nor  write.  I  find  now  and  then  children  twelve  and 
fifteen  who  have  never  been  to  Sunday  school.  The  pas- 
tors are  busy  men  and  need  the  help  of  the  Sunday-school 
missionary  and  could  cooperate  with  him  in  caring  for 
organized  work,  but  we  must  have  a  man  to  organize. 

Much  of  the  new  population  is  foreign,  but  this 
only  serves  to  make  the  problem  more  difficult. 
Their  children  attend  our  public  schools  and  learn 
to  speak  English.  The  church  has  an  opportunity 
here  to  train  these  Americans  by  adoption  for  Chris- 
tian citizenship  by  taking  the  Sunday  school  to  them. 
i"'^*  In  Iowa  the  Sunday-school  missionary  has  worked 

hand-in-hand  with  the  home  mission  forces  "to 
strengthen  the  things  that  remain."  Under  the 
splendid  leadership  of  Rev.  S.  R.  Ferguson, 
D.D.,  who  for  twenty-two  years  has  been  in  charge 
of  the  work  in  Iowa,  the  Presbyterian  Church  has 
made  wonderful  advances.  In  the  earlier  years 
many  mission  Sunday  schools  were  organized 
which  have  since  developed  into  Presbyterian 
churches,  becoming  in  turn  liberal  contributors 
toward  the  work  in  other  places.  Like  Illinois,  the 
Synod  of  Iowa  has  always  required  the  services  of 
Sunday-school  workers  to  "skirmish''  the  outlying 
districts,  opening  new  fields  for  the  home  mission- 
aries. Much  of  this  work  has  been  of  an  evangelis- 
tic character.  One  of  the  Iowa  Sunday-school  mis- 
sionaries reports : 

Besides  other  work  I  conducted  meetings  in  eight  places 
last  year,  most  of  them  in  county  communities  where  the 


THE  MIDDLE  WEST  53 

spirit  of  the  Lord  was  poured  out  on  us  in  mighty  con- 
victing and  converting  power.  Two  hundred  and  thirty 
took  a  definite  stand  for  the  Lord,  most  of  whom  united 
with  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

A  few  months  ago  I  held  meetings  in  a  country  district 
where  envy  and  hatred  pervaded  the  entire  community. 
It  was  a  hard  proposition,  but  "there  is  nothing  too  hard 
for  God."  We  worked,  prayed,  visited,  and  conducted 
meetings;  and  the  Spirit  of  God  began  his  work,  quietly 
and  steadily,  throughout  the  whole  neighborhood.  There 
was  one  family,  fine  Swedish  people,  whose  three  bright 
children  attended  the  meetings  each  night.  Returning  home 
after  one  of  these  meetings,  the  girl,  eleven  years  of  age, 
said  to  the  father  and  mother,  "I  want  you  to  forgive  me 
for  all  the  wrong  things  I  ever  did."  Then  the  lad  of 
sixteen  asked  them  to  do  the  same  thing,  and  the  little  boy 
of  six  made  a  similar  request.  The  parents  were  all 
broken  up  and  brought  under  a  deep  conviction  and  con- 
fessed to  neighbors  that  they  were  not  Christians,  al- 
though they  had  been  members  of  the  church  for  years. 
When  I  gave  an  invitation  for  anyone  who  was  willing  to 
accept  and  confess  Christ,  the  lad  led  the  way,  the  father, 
mother,  and  little  girl  followed.  The  whole  family  entered 
the  Ark  of  Salvation. 

A  bright  lad  of  twelve,  in  a  home  where  there  had 
been  much  indifference  to  things  religious,  was  in  the  Sun- 
day-school class.  Although  living  quite  a  distance  from 
the  church  he  was  there  every  night  at  our  service,  and 
the  rest  of  the  family  had  to  come  too.  The  father  be- 
came interested  and  finally  accepted  Jesus  as  his  Saviour. 
At  the  close  of  the  meetings  the  whole  family — father, 
mother,  a  young  girl  of  sixteen  and  the  lad — joined  the 
church.  Since  then  the  father  has  been  elected  an  elder, 
and  is  doing  excellent  work. 

Another  missionary's  experience  showing  how  this 
work  is  carried  on  in  these  older  synods  is  interest- 
ing: 


54  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

Organizing         I  find  many  opportunities  for  service  in  the  investlga- 
Schools  ^Jqj^  q£  j^g^  fields,  conferring  with  the  people  as  to  what 

might  be  accomplished  in  these  needy  regions,  and  visit- 
ing weak  and  struggling  schools,  in  the  endeavor  to  in- 
crease their  membership  and  inspire  them  with  a  new  en- 
thusiasm. 

But  the  organizing  of  two  new  schools  was  perhaps 
the  most  important  service  rendered.  One  of  these  schools 
was  organized  at  a  new  town  on  a  new  line  of  railroad. 
This  was  the  first  time  that  a  religious  service  had  been 
held  in  this  community.  I  had  previously  called  in  every 
house  in  and  around  the  village  and — although  the  day 
was  very  stormy — we  had  a  wonderful  gathering  of  both 
old  and  young.  One  woman  who  was  the  mother  of  seven 
children  had  previously  expressed  a  bitter  regret  that  she 
had  moved  into  that  part  of  the  country  at  all,  where 
there  was  neither  school  nor  service  of  any  kind  for  her 
children;  about  two  hours  after  the  expression  of  this 
regret  I  appeared  in  the  village  and  made  known  my  mis- 
sion. 

The  hall  in  which  the  school  was  organized  was  only 
in  process  of  erection,  and  was  still  without  doors 
and  windows,  and  we  found  it  necessary  to  nail  up  can- 
vas all  around  as  a  protection  from  the  storm.  Although 
I  hurried  through  with  my  part  of  the  work,  they  remained 
until  five  o'clock,  conferring  and  asking  questions  about 
the  future  of  the  enterprise.  They  are  already  planning  to 
have  a  church  and  preaching  in  the  near  future. 

The  synods  of  Kansas  and  Missouri  are  grouped 
with  Iowa  to  form  the  district  over  which  Dr.  Fer- 
guson exercises  supervision.  Here  again  the  church 
is  fortunate  in  having  a  man  of  rare  tact  and  con- 
secration to  set  the  pace  in  missionary  advance.  His 
ability  to  win  friends  to  his  cause,  his  sweet  Chris- 
tian spirit  and  his  never-faihng  cheerfulness  under 
the  most  trying  circumstances  are  qualities  that  have 


1.  Rev.  Samuel  R.  Ferguson,  D.D. 

2.  Orchestra  and  Cradle  Roll  of  a  Nebraska  mission  school. 

3.  The    superintendent,    assistant    superintendent    and    seven    members    of    a 

mission    Sunday   school   in   western   Kansas. 

4.  Rev.   J.^mes  B.    Currens. 


THE  MIDDLE  WEST  55 

gained  him  a  hearing  in  many  a  sin-cursed  com- 
munity from  which  other  workers  had  departed  in 
discouragement.  He  is  filled  with  the  spirit  of  mis- 
sions and  in  presenting  this  cause  before  churches, 
presbyteries,  synods  and  General  Assembly  he  has 
rendered  invaluable  service.  He  has  had  a  most 
efficient  helper  in  A.  R.  O'Brien,  a  former  sea  cap- 
tain who  found  Christ  and  forsook  all  to  follow 
him.  As  an  evangelist  of  unusual  power  he  is 
known  throughout  the  Middle  West.  Dr.  Ferguson 
says,  "Many  times  in  places  where  we  were  hold- 
ing meetings,  I  have  known  him  to  rise  early  in 
the  morning  and  in  a  room  where  the  thermometer 
registered  twenty  degrees  below  zero,  with  his  fur 
coat  wrapped  about  him,  to  spend  an  hour  or  two  in 
Bible  study  and  prayer."  Is  it  any  wonder  that  the 
blessing  of  the  Spirit  has  been  so  richly  manifested 
in  the  labors  of  these  workers? 

In  Kansas  the  work  of  the  Sunday-school  mis-  Kansas 
sionary  is  confined  largely  to  the  immense  territory 
covering  the  western  half  of  the  state.  One  mis- 
sionary has  an  automobile  which  greatly  facilitates 
his  work  of  visiting  the  scattered  homes  on  the 
plains.  He  is  verily  "proclaiming  the  gospel  to 
the  poor."  The  crop  is  uncertain,  and  long  periods 
of  drought  have  impoverished  many  of  the  people. 
Dugouts  and  sod  houses  are  numerous,  but  out  of 
them  have  come  some  of  the  most  faithful  and  effi- 
cient workers  in  the  mission  Sunday  schools.  This 
missionary,  who  has  a  field  consisting  of  thirty 
counties  covering  twenty-four  thousand  square 
miles,  reported  for  one  year : 


56  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

I  have  traveled  ninety-eight  hundred  and  eighty-three 
miles  on  foot,  with  a  horse  and  buggy,  by  railway  train, 
and  with  an  automobile.  More  than  four  thousand  miles 
have  been  covered  in  the  automobile. 

I  have  visited  seven  hundred  and  sixty-three  families, 
organized  seven  new  Sunday  schools,  organized  four  more 
where  there  had  been  none  for  a  long  time,  revived  one  and 
visited  twenty-nine  others. 

The  spiritual  destitution  of  some  of  these  counties 
would  be  almost  complete  were  it  not  for  the  Sunday 
schools.  In  four  of  the  counties  visited  I  found  but  one 
resident  ordained  minister.  Other  counties  are  better  off 
— ^they  have   one  minister  to   the   county! 

In  one  of  the  western  counties  we  held  a  Sunday- 
school  convention  in  a  little  schoolhouse  away  out  on  the 
prairie.  For  the  forenoon  session  the  building  was  filled. 
In  the  afternoon  it  was  packed ;  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  were  in  attendance.  "Where  did  all  these  people  come 
from?"  I  asked;  for  it  was  a  sparsely  settled  neighborhood. 
I  learned  that  many  drove  from  fourteen  to  twenty  miles, 
some  thirty.  That  is  the  way  they  appreciate  a  conven- 
tion opportunity.  I  was  delightfully  entertained  by  the 
superintendent  and  his  family  in  their  little  sod  house. 
They  had  set  up  the  family  altar  in  their  home,  and  the 
spiritual  fellowship  was  fine.  They  were  big  hearted  and 
strong  spirited;  they  carried  the  whole  community  on  their 
hearts. 

I  have  related  this  incident,  not  because  it  was  isolated 
and  striking,  but  because  it  fairly  illustrates  a  fine  body  of 
people  scattered  over  these  western  prairies,  where  there 
is  not  a  church  within  reach  and  only  occasionally  a  min- 
ister seen:  a  Saviour  of  life  unto  life  in  their  commun- 
ities; standing  true  to  Christ  and  holding  fast  to  the  Sun- 
day school.  It  gives  one  a  deeper  conception  of  the  in- 
valuable service  being  rendered  to  the  citizenship  of  this 
nation  by  the  little  country  Sunday  school. 

Away  down  in  the  southwest,  along  the  Cimarron 
river,    I   walked   over   the   sand   hills,   through   the   sage- 


THE  MIDDLE  WEST 


57 


brush  and  soap  weed,  where  there  are  miles  between  the 
scattered  homes.  People  are  living  in  dugouts,  half-dug- 
outs and  shacks,  holding  down  their  claims — some  of  the 
finest  people  I  have  known.  We  organized  a  Sunday  school, 
a  wee  bit  of  a  school  with  two  classes.  It  has  come  up 
through  hard  struggles,  but  is  winning  out  and  getting  on 
its  feet.  It  is  the  whole  religious  life  of  the  community. 
What  would  they  do  without  it!  There  are  many  just 
like  it. 

I  drove  twenty-six  miles  through  the  mud  one  Satur- 
day afternoon,  arriving  at  five  o'clock  at  the  home  to 
which  I  had  been  directed.  Replying  to  my  questions,  the 
members  of  the  family  said  they  would  like  to  have  a 
Sunday  school ;  they  needed  one,  but  there  were  not 
enough  people  in  the  neighborhood  to  sustain  one.  They 
were  sorry,  but  were  sure  nothing  could  be  done.  It  was 
too  late  and  too  muddy  to  go  elsewhere.  They  gave  me 
their  best  accommodations  for  the  night.  In  the  morn- 
ing the  man  accepted  my  invitation  to  drive  around  with 
me  and  visit  the  neighbors.  We  visited  the  people,  and 
that  afternoon  we  organized  a  Sunday  school  of  twenty- 
two  members.  Later  I  was  told  that  the  average  attend- 
ance had  grown  to  about  forty. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  of  Missouri  this  Missouri 
statement  of  conditions  was  made: 

The  location  and  resources  of  this  state,  and  its  re- 
ligious needs  and  opportunities  present  to  our  denomination 
a  loud  and  most  insistent  call  for  a  definite  and  forward 
movement. 

Missouri  lies  in  the  heart  of  our  nation.  It  ranks 
seventh  in  population  among  the  states.  To  the  east,  north 
and  south  of  Missouri  are  twenty-three  states  which  are 
older,  were  in  the  Union  before  this  state,  and  years  ago 
outnumbered  this  commonwealth  in  population  and  in  value 
of  annual  manufacturing. 

They  were  large  producing  states  before  Missouri   saw 


58 


ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 


Snnday- 
School 
Missions  in 
Cities 


its  first  factory  put  into  operation,  and  yet  to-day  this 
state  ranks  seventh  in  manufacturing,  having  passed  six- 
teen of  the  older  states  in  its  rush  to  the  front.  With 
all  this  progress  it  is  still  in  its  infancy  as  a  manufacturing 
center,  but  the  indications  are  that  soon  it  will  outrank 
Ohio,  Illinois  and  Pennsylvania.  This  rich  state  is  rapidly 
becoming  the  center  of  the  nation's  population.  This  all 
has  a  tremendous  bearing  upon  the  responsibility  and  work 
of  our  church  in  this  synod. 

When  we  view  intelligently  the  religious  needs  and 
conditions  in  this  state  we  are  forced  to  the  conviction 
that  there  is  an  opportunity  for  almost  unlimited  mission- 
ary expansion.  There  are  vast  areas  scarcely  touched  by 
our  church  or  any  church.  There  are  many  counties  with 
not  a  single  Presbyterian  church  in  them. 

The  vast  Ozark  region,  and  the  lower  river  counties, 
more  familiarly  known  as  the  drainage  districts,  are  rapidly 
developing  and  filling  up  with  people.  The  church  of 
Qirist  is  not  keeping  up  with  this  growth.  In  this  im- 
portant region  there  are  large  towns  which  have  no  church 
of  any  denomination.  It  is  doubtful  if  we  are  meeting  our 
opportunity  and  obligation  in  the  great  cities  of  our  state. 

In  both  city  and  country  Sunday-school  mission- 
ary work  has  been  the  method  of  advance.  One 
missionary,  located  in  Kansas  City,  reports  that 
within  the  city  limits  he  has  established  six  new 
Sunday  schools,  all  of  which  now  have  settled  pas- 
tors. By  this  means  Presbyterianism  has  been  able 
to  keep  pace  with  the  rapid  advance  in  population 
in  this  important  center.  Results  like  this  show 
the  efficacy  of  this  method: 


At  the  close  of  special  meetings,  a  church  was  organ- 
ized among  the  converts.  A  young  man  who  had  been 
the  champion  pool  player  in  these  parts  became  a  faithful 
Sunday-school    superintendent.     The    man    who    had    been 


THE  MIDDLE  WEST 


59 


the  organizer  of  the  neighborhood  dances,  became  inter- 
ested and  assisted  in  many  ways.  He  has  since  with  his 
own  hands  made  a  beautiful  pulpit,  donating  it  to  the 
church,  and  his  bright  children  are  always  at  Sunday 
school.  Not  a  dance  has  been  held  since  the  coming  of 
the  Sunday  school  to  this  neighborhood. 

Aggressive  missionary  work  is  being  done  in  the 
Iron  Mountain  district.  This  region  covers  thir- 
teen thousand  five  hundred  square  miles  and  is  vir- 
gin missionary  soil.  Over  this  entire  field  a  Sunday- 
school  missionary,  a  consecrated  young  layman,  has 
traveled  largely  on  foot,  visiting  from  house  to 
house,  and  establishing  mission  Sunday  schools.  He 
finds  a  discouraging  lack  of  efficient  workers,  on 
account  of  the  ignorance  of  most  of  the  people, 
but  his  labors  are  supplemented  by  faithful  home 
missionaries  who  share  with  him  the  hardships  and 
sacrifices  of  that  isolated  field.  This  presbytery  in- 
cludes the  famous  "lead  belt,"  where  several  chapels 
have  been  erected  by  the  Sunday-school  missionary 
to  house  the  mission  schools  he  has  organized.  The 
Home  Mission  Board  has  placed  settled  pastors  and 
women  teachers  in  charge  to  develop  the  work. 
This  field  presents  a  most  hopeful  missionary  pros- 
pect. 

According  to  the  latest  census,  the  population  of  Nebraska 
Nebraska  has  increased  only  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  thousand  in  twenty  years,  an  average  of  sixty- 
five  hundred  each  year.  The  western  section  of  the 
state  is  now  entering  a  new  period  of  development. 
Stimulated  by  extensive  irrigation  schemes  and  suc- 
cessful dry  farming,  the  ranches  are  being  broken 
5 


6o  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

up  into  smaller  farms,  attracting  many  new  settlers. 
One  presbytery  (Box  Butte)  includes  seventeen 
counties,  covering  twenty-three  thousand  nine  hun- 
dred and  twenty-two  square  miles,  with  a  population 
of  twenty-three  thousand.  Here  the  Sunday-school 
missionary  finds  pioneer  work  beset  with  difficulties 
because  of  the  distances  to  be  traveled  and  the  lack 
of  community  life.  A  glimpse  of  the  conditions  is 
given  by  a  missionary  in  a  recent  report: 

This  report  is  being  written  in  a  sod  house  which  is 
Iixi2x6j^.  The  house  is  occupied  by  one  of  our  home 
missionaries,  his  wife  and  child.  Three  days  ago  the  home 
missionary  met  me  at  the  railway  station.  The  train  was 
nearly  four  hours  late,  which  meant  a  very  late  start,  for 
a  thirty  mile  ride  through  the  sand  hills.  We  rode  from 
a  quarter  past  six  in  the  evening  until  half  past  one  in 
the  morning.  We  arose  from  the  supper  table  at  three 
o'clock.  After  a  few  hours'  rest  we  started  again.  Our 
destination  was  thirty  miles  bej'ond,  at  Overton  Ranch. 
We  reached  the  place  just  as  the  Sunday  school  was  clos- 
ing, in  time  to  talk  to  the  school,  and  to  preach  immedi- 
ately afterwards.  We  had  been  able  to  make  the  place  on 
time  by  doing  without  dinner,  our  only  refreshment  in 
many  hours  being  a  mouthful  of  snow.  In  other  words, 
we  traveled  more  than  sixty  miles  over  bad  roads  through 
the  sand  hills  in  less  than  twenty-four  hours,  having  had 
three  or  four  hours  sleep,  and  conducted  two  services  with- 
out rest  or  food.  It  may  interest  you  to  know  that  in  that 
drive  of  sixty  miles  I  saw  only  eight  or  nine  inhabited 
places,  and  only  one  schoolhouse  besides  the  sod  house  in 
which  I  spoke  on  Sunday  afternoon. 

Other  Sunday-school  missionaries  are  faithfully 
at  work  in  the  older  parts  of  this  synod,  where  dis- 
tances are  not  so  erreat  and  where  the  fields  are 


THE  MIDDLE  WEST  6l 

easier  of  access.  The  present  policy  in  Nebraska 
is  more  in  the  direction  of  development  than  of 
planting  new  work.  This  is  important  in  cer- 
tain stages  of  missionary  activity,  and  to  hold 
the  ground  already  gained  is  always  wise.  Never- 
theless, the  need  of  the  services  of  the  itinerant 
Sunday-school  missionary  is  becoming  increasingly 
apparent. 

The  church  loses  ground  when  it  has  no  repre- 
sentative who  is  free  to  travel  through  the  rural 
districts  visiting  the  homes  of  the  people,  and  pro- 
viding for  the  religious  training  of  their  children, 
even  though  such  provisions  are  of  necessity  of  a 
very  humble  character.  What  is  needed  is  a  larger 
investment  of  home  mission  funds  to  follow  up  the 
work  of  the  Sunday-school  missionary.  While  this 
is  being  done,  we  should  not  neglect  the  shepherd- 
less  lambs  who  need  Sunday  schools  even  though  a 
church  may  never  develop  from  it. 

A  pioneer  Sunday-school  missionary — a  mission-  ^Mission- 

,  .  tit,  ^"T  Pioneer 

ary  hero  m  every  sense — to  whom  the  church  owes 
much,  is  Rev.  J.  B.  Currens,  who  for  twenty-five 
years  has  traveled  over  Nebraska,  ministering  to  the 
spiritual  needs  of  the  rural  population.  As  he  ap- 
proaches the  sunset  of  life  he  still  labors  faithfully 
in  the  cause  he  loves.  This  man  has  made  sacri- 
fices unknown  to  most  of  the  men  in  that  field  to- 
day. Through  his  labors,  he  has  led  thousands  into 
the  kingdom,  and  scores  of  young  men  have  been 
helped  into  the  gospel  ministry  through  gifts  which 
he  made  out  of  his  modest  salary,  entailing  much 
personal  sacrifice  on  his  part.    The  influence  of  the 


62  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

work  of  this  faithful  missionary  of  the  Cross  will 
bear  fruit  through  many  generations. 

In  the  synods  of   Indiana,   Michigan  and   Ohio 
Sunday-school  missionaries  are  engaged  largely  in 
development  work.     Their  labors  are  directed  more 
toward    the    reviving    and    improving    of    Sunday 
schools  connected  with  the  rural  churches,  than  to 
the  organizing  and  opening  of  new  fields  of  mis- 
sionary   effort.      Under    most    efficient    committee 
supervision  the  work  is  well  organized  in  Indiana 
by  districts   with  a  synodical   superintendent.   Rev. 
F.  W.  Grossman,  D.D.,  in  charge.     The  labors  of 
the   Sunday-school   missionaries   are   directed   with 
the  view  to  the  closest  cooperation  with  the  home 
mission  forces.     Indiana  sets  an  excellent  example 
of  self-support  in    Sunday-school   missions,   asking 
of    the    Board    only    as    much    as    she    contributes. 
When  the  work  is  sufficiently  enlarged  to  supply 
a   missionary    for   each   synodical    district,    Indiana 
doubtless   will  contribute  liberally  toward  the   de- 
velopment of  Sunday-school  missions  in  the  more 
remote  fields.     In  Ohio  and  Michigan  the  educa- 
tional   feature   of    Sunday-school   missions   is   held 
forth  prominently,  although  some  parts  of  Michigan 
present  needy  fields  for  pioneer  Sunday-school  work. 
The  fact  that  less  than  one  half  of  Michigan's  chil- 
dren   and    young   people    are    enrolled    in    Sunday 
schools  is  an  indication  of  the  need  of  missionary 
work  in  their  behalf.     The  name  of  Rev.  David  A. 
Jewell  will  always  be  associated  with  Sunday-school 
missions  in  Michigan.     He  was  one  of  the  workers 
of  the  Board  under  the  colportage  system,  and  be- 


THE  MIDDLE  WEST  63 

cause  of  his  activity  in  doing  Sunday-school  work 
wherever  the  opportunity  offered,  he  was  engaged 
as  one  of  the  first  of  the  Sunday-school  mission- 
aries.    "He  being  dead,  yet  speaketh." 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  DISTRICT 


The  Sunday  school  becomes  the  community  institution 
which  bears  up  the  whole  task  of  religious  education.  The 
farmer  takes  his  place  as  teacher  of  a  Bible  class.  His  in- 
fluence on  his  own  sons  is  exerted  when  they  come  to  him  in 
their  turn  with  the  sons  of  other  men  to  be  taught  what  he 
is  best  qualified  to  teach.  His  wife  becomes  the  teacher  of 
the  Primary  Department  and  all  the  children  of  the  com- 
munity come  to  her,  including  her  own.  Through  this  de- 
partment she  teaches  in  the  community  much  better  than  she 
could  teach  in  her  own  home. 

Religion  itself,  as  understood  to-day,  cannot  be  taught  in 
the  household.  Modern  pedagogy  and  the  methods  of  teach- 
ing which  are  used  in  the  schools,  and  colleges  can  be 
adopted  by  Sunday  schools,  but  cannot  be  adopted  by  fire- 
sides. Most  parents  are  incapable  of  teaching  in  the  terms 
of  modern  religious  education.  For  this  reason  the  Sunday 
school  becomes  the  community  center  in  religious  education. 
All  the  children  of  the  countryside — not  merely  the  children 
of  church  members — can  be  brought  together  and  thus  as- 
semble for  learning  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  Christ. — Warren  H. 
Wilson. 


6S 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  DISTRICT 

This  section  includes  we^ern  Montana,  Idaho, 
Utah,  Wyoming  and  Colorado.  Here  we  have  fron- 
tier life  with  all  of  its  glamour  and  romance.  This 
is  a  district  to  which  Sunday-school  missions  is 
peculiarly  adapted  and  in  which  three  times  the 
present  number  of  Sunday-school  missionaries 
would  find  ample  opportunity  for  service.  The 
Federal  Government  is  spending  millions  of  dollars 
to  bring  vast  areas  of  arid  land  under  cultivation. 
Scientific  farming  has  demonstrated  the  possibility 
of  raising  a  fair  crop  even  on  dry  land,  and  here, 
too,  the  new  settler  is  rushing  in.  It  is  only  within 
recent  years  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  done 
anything  in  the  way  of  aggressive  missionary  work 
in  this  region.  The  cattle  ranger  has  been  pushed 
further  west  before  the  oncoming  sweep  of  civili- 
zation. The  miner  and  the  promoter  have  reaped  a 
harvest  and  many  of  them  have  passed  on  to  other 
localities.  The  land  boomer  has  had  his  opportunity 
and  now  this  region  is  settling  down  to  an  active 
and  steady  development  which  makes  for  perma- 
nency. 

Colorado  first  came  into  prominence  as  a  min-  Colorado 
ing  state,  but  the  developments  of  recent  years  have 
brought  it  to  the  front  as  an  agricultural  region. 
To  own  an  irrigated  produce  farm  in  northeastern 

67 


68  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

Colorado  is  quite  as  profitable  and  far  less  risky  than 
to  own  a  mine.  An  acre  of  land  which  a  few  years 
ago  could  be  bought  for  a  few  dollars  is  now  worth 
from  five  hundred  to  eight  hundred  dollars.  The 
railways  have  been  an  important  factor  in  the  de- 
velopment of  this  state.  Twenty-four  railways 
penetrate  every  section  of  the  state.  Branches  of 
the  trunk  lines  bring  the  newer  sections  within  easy 
reach  of  a  market.  Along  the  line  of  one  of  the 
extensions  recently  built,  thirty  new  towns  came  into 
existence  in  a  single  year.  Irrigation  schemes  of 
marvelous  magnitude  are  being  promoted  on  every 
hand.  This  vast  development,  and  the  incoming  of 
thousands  of  settlers  to  occupy  the  arid  portions 
of  the  state  as  homesteaders,  combine  to  present  to 
us  as  a  denomination  one  of  the  greatest  opportuni- 
ties for  pioneer  Sunday-school  work  ever  offered 
in  the  history  of  this  region. 

In  the  cities  the  churches  are  strong  and  are 
reaching  out  with  a  missionary  spirit  that  is  most 
gratifying.  The  population  of  Denver  has  ad- 
vanced sixty  per  cent  during  the  past  decade ;  sub- 
urban residential  sections  are  developing  rapidly, 
and  in  each  of  them  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  well 
represented.  This  has  been  accomplished  through 
the  aggressiveness  of  the  Sunday-school  mission- 
ary, W.  H.  Schureman.  Ever  on  the  alert,  he  has 
seized  strategic  points  everywhere,  has  placed  them 
in  charge  of  workers  from  the  Denver  churches 
and  has  seen  many  of  them  grow  into  flourishing 
churches  with  commodious  houses  of  worship.  The 
example  of  the  Young  People's  Society  of  the  Cen- 


of  Results 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  DISTRICT  69 

tral  Presbyterian  Church  in  Denver  might  well  be 
followed  by  similar  societies  in  other  cities.  The 
interest  which  has  been  developed  since  they  began 
to  assist  Mr.  Schureman  by  providing  workers  for 
the  new  mission  schools  which  he  established  in  the 
vicinity  of  Denver,  has  been  so  great  that  it  has 
stimulated  every  phase  of  church  activity.  The 
missionary  atmosphere  is  predominant  and  they  have 
experienced  a  wonderful  blessing. 

It  is  estimated  that  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  a  Specimen 
new  settlers  took  up  homes  in  the  eastern  section 
of  this  state  in  a  single  year.  One  Sunday-school 
missionary  assigned  to  this  region  finds  the  task  far 
too  great  for  him  and  more  workers  are  urgently 
needed.  Shall  we  hold  back  while  such  opportuni- 
ties are  beckoning  us  forward?  During  twelve 
months  this  Sunday-school  missionary  traveled  nine- 
teen thousand  nine  hundred  and  six  miles,  visited 
nine  hundred  and  seventeen  homes  and  individuals 
in  the  interest  of  his  work,  attended  and  assisted  in 
two  hundred  and  fifty-three  public  meetings,  organ- 
ized thirteen  Sunday  schools,  revived  four  schools, 
made  fifty-nine  visits  to  schools  already  organized, 
including  church  schools.  Out  of  these  schools  three 
Presbyterian  churches  grew  during  a  single  year. 
Six  church  organizations  are  erecting  houses  of  wor- 
ship. To  assist  them  the  missionary  raised  by  per- 
sonal effort  twenty-four  hundred  dollars.  He  estab- 
lished ten  new  preaching  points  and  assisted  in  rais- 
ing about  eight  hundred  dollars  toward  pastoral  sup- 
port on  these  fields.  At  one  time  he  had  under  his 
care  thirty-five  Sunday  schools  with  an  average  at- 


70 


ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 


tendance   of   two    thousand   officers,   teachers   and 
pupils. 

Another  Colorado  Sunday-school  missionary 
writes  concerning  a  district  covering  two  hundred 
square  miles,  with  a  population  of  twelve  hundred, 
and  not  one  Protestant  church  or  minister.  He 
says: 

Eleven  Sunday  schools  were  organized  and  one  was 
reopened.  This  item,  we  believe,  involves  our  most  im- 
portant work — seeking  and  finding  communities  without 
gospel  services  and  supplying  them.  The  organiza- 
tion of  these  schools  does  not  simply  mean  forty-four 
teachers  and  more  than  four  hundred  pupils  gathered 
into  new  schools,  but  that  people  to  the  number  of  one 
thousand  to  one  thousand  five  hundred  were  provided  with 
the  gospel  who  formerly  were  without  it  in  regular  or  or- 
ganized form. 

In  two  communities  where  the  people  were  so  few  and 
far  apart  that  even  a  Sunday  school  was  not  practical, 
Home  Departments  were  started  with  one  visitor  and 
twelve  members  in  each.  These  faithful  women  visitors 
call  on  their  members  every  month  carrying  with  them 
the  Sunday-school  literature  and  receiving  the  reports  of 
their  members. 


Foreign  The  claim  has  frequently  been  made  that  from 

i!!om'p^o""   *^^^  ^^^^^^  mission  schools  organized  by  the  mission- 
neer  Schools  arics   of  the    Board   of   Publication   and    Sabbath- 
School  Work  may  be  found  those  who  are  going 
forth  in  consecrated  life  service  for  Christ.     Here 
are  two  instances  of  this : 

The  College  of  Idaho — a  Presbyterian  institution 
in  Caldwell,  Idaho — has  graduated  a  young  woman 
who — as  a  girl — got  her  first  glimpse  of  Christ,  and 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  DISTRICT  71 

a  desire  for  a  larger  and  more  useful  life  than  she 
had  been  living,  or  had  seen  around  her,  in  a  little 
Sunday  school  organized  near  her  country  home  in 
the  mountains  of  Colorado,  Now,  as  a  Christian 
teacher,  she  will  labor  for  the  Master  and  seek  to 
win  others  to  him  and  train  them  in  his  service. 

Another  young  woman  graduate,  who  has  been 
accepted  by  the  Foreign  Mission  Board  of  her 
church  and  is  waiting  to  be  sent  out  as  a  mission- 
ary to  India,  became  a  Christian  in  a  little  Sunday 
school  organized  by  a  Sunday-school  missionary. 

Twenty  years  ago  when  the  first  Sunday-school  Wyomim 
missionary  entered  Wyoming,  there  were  four 
churches  in  the  state,  and  these  had  been  organized 
by  the  great  home  missionary.  Dr.  Sheldon  Jack- 
son. The  story  of  the  development  of  missions  in 
this  state  is  told  very  graphically  by  Rev.  H.  W. 
Bainton,  who  has  rendered  splendid  service  there 
and  whose  labors  are  a  mighty  factor  in  the  greater 
development  now  in  progress. 

One  Fourth  of  July  the  missionary  reached  a 
road-ranch  on  the  Medicine  Bow  range  where  a 
party  of  cowboys  had  rounded  up  for  the  night  after 
celebrating  the  day  by  carousing,  incidentally  hold- 
ing a  "necktie  sociable"  over  a  suspicious  character 
whom  they  had  suspected  of  killing  cattle  belong- 
ing to  their  outfit.  They  cut  the  stranger  down 
before  life  was  extinct,  and  after  his  confession  to 
the  deed  he  was  sent  down  to  Fort  Collins,  the 
county  seat,  to  be  tried  with  due  process  of  law. 
The  ringleader  and  chief  spokesman  of  the  party 
had  been  educated  as  a  lawyer  and  brought  up  re- 


72 


ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 


ligiously,  though  his  language  was  most  profane. 
In  the  presence  of  the  missionary  he  said  that  he 
wished  he  had  left  the  man  to  hang,  so  as  not  to 
bother  the  county  with  him.  Then  the  speaker  asked 
the  missionary  his  business  in  the  country.  When 
he  was  informed  he  begged  a  thousand  pardons  for 
the  language  he  had  been  using,  protesting  that  he 
had  been  reared  to  know  better.  "But  you  are  a 
strange  bird  in  this  neck  of  the  woods,"  he  con- 
tinued. "Let  me  give  you  a  pointer:  you  have 
heard  of  bellwethers  and  how  the  whole  flock  fol- 
lows; just  get  the  toughest  old  sinner  in  the  park 
converted  and  you  corral  the  whole  bunch." 

As  Colorado  was  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  so 
is  Wyoming  now:  its  undeveloped  material  re- 
sources are  just  as  great,  and  in  another  decade 
or  score  of  years  it  will  leap  to  the  front.  There 
is  coal  in  every  county  but  one.  The  average 
traveler  passing  across  Wyoming  on  the  Union 
Pacific,  and  looking  out  the  car  window,  thinks 
this  is  indeed  the  great  American  Desert;  for  he 
sees  none  of  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  interior  of 
the  state,  which  must  be  reached  by  a  spur  of 
road  or  by  stage. 
irrieation  At  Icast  twcuty  million  acres  are  susceptible  of 

cultivation  either  by  dry  or  irrigated  processes. 
The  United  States  Reclamation  Service  has  spent 
ten  million  dollars  on  two  projects  at  the  Shoshone 
and  Pathfinder  Reservoirs,  which  will  make  the 
Big  Horn  and  the  North  Platte  Valley  blossom  as 
the  rose..  Twenty-four  irrigation  enterprises  are 
in  operation,  as  well  as  the  two  immense  Govern- 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  DISTRICT  'j'^ 

ment  irrigation  plants,  while  army  engineers  re- 
cently passed  upon  the  feasibility  of  irrigating  a 
vast  territory  in  southeastern  Wyoming.  With  all 
these  resources,  which  the  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand of  present  population  cannot  begin  to  develop, 
people  looking  for  homes  are  bound  to  be  attracted 
and  the  future  of  Wyoming  is  assured.  Its  climate 
is  like  Colorado,  and  its  altitude  varies  as  much, 
from  nine  thousand  feet  above  sea  level  in  Yellow- 
stone Park  to  thirty-seven  hundred  at  Sheridan. 

At  Sheridan  the  missionary  found  one  part  of  the 
town  unchurched.  He  organized  a  Sunday  school 
in  a  fine,  large  brick  schoolhouse  and  over  a  hun- 
dred were  gathered  in  after  a  few  weeks.  He  ex- 
plored the  Big  Horn  Basin  and  started  a  Sunday 
school  and  Ladies'  Aid  Society  in  Cody,  the  home 
of  Buffalo  Bill. 

Returning  to  Sheridan  to  see  how  his  Sunday 
school  was  prospering,  the  missionary  found  that 
the  people  wanted  a  church  organization  and  had 
taken  the  initiative  themselves,  electing  a  moderator 
among  their  number  and  an  ofiicial  board  to  care 
for  finances,  expecting  recognition  by  the  presbytery. 
He  advised  them  to  elect  elders.  Then  he  ordained 
and  installed  them.  A  board  of  trustees  was  chosen, 
and  the  promise  was  given  to  send  a  minister. 
Sheridan  has  grown  to  be  a  little  city  of  twelve 
thousand,  the  second  largest  municipality  in  the 
state.  The  church  has  grown  with  the  town.  From 
the  schoolhouse  the  organization  moved  to  the  town 
hall,  and  now  the  people  worship  in  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  church  buildings  in  the  state. 


74 


ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 


Moorcroft  was  also  organized,  with  a  Sunday 
school  and  Ladies'  Aid  Society.  The  church  now  has 
a  neat  little  edifice.  Powell,  Grey  Bull,  Nasin  and 
Gillette  have  all  been  cared  for  as  to  their  spiritual 
development  by  the  Sunday-school  missionary  for 
northern  Wyoming.  In  1908  the  Synod  of  Colo- 
rado divided  the  Presbytery  of  Wyoming,  erecting 
the  Presbytery  of  Sheridan  out  of  these  churches 
and  the  ministers  in  the  northern  half  of  the  state. 
The  southern  half  of  the  state  is  known  as  Cheyenne 
Presbytery. 

Goshen  Park  has  six  Sunday  schools,  all  fostered 
by  our  missionary.  From  these  three  churches  have 
been  organized,  and  an  ordained  minister  from  Vir- 
ginia is  riding  the  circuit.  Guernsey  attracted  the 
missionary  when  he  was  being  invited  to  preach  the 
funeral  sermon  of  a  boy  dragged  to  death  by  a 
broncho.  At  Lost  Springs,  Centennial,  Elk  Moun- 
tain and  Areola  the  Sunday-school  missionary  was 
the  first  on  the  field.  General  Assembly  has  been 
overtured  to  set  aside  another  presbytery  tO'  be  called 
Laramie,  to  include  all  the  region  southwest  of 
Laramie,  along  the  Union  Pacific.  This  will  make 
three  presbyteries  at  work  in  Wyoming — enough 
for  the  organization  of  a  synod. 

In  all  of  this  work  the  Sunday-school  missionary 
has  been  the  pioneer  opening  the  way  for  the  pastor 
evangelist  and  the  home  missionary. 
Idaho  Idaho  is  in  the  front  rank  of  the  states  show- 

ing the  largest  percentage  of  increase  in  population 
during  the  past  decade.  It  is  one  of  the  three  states 
whose   population   increased   more   than   one  hun- 


1.  Mr.    William    H.    Schureman. 

2.  The    mountain    stage    coacli    frequently    used 

by   the    Sunday-school   missionary. 

3.  Home    built    of    bottles,    where    the    Sunday- 

school  missionary  is  frequently  entertained. 

4.  Rev.   Hugh   W.   Rankin. 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  DISTRICT  75 

dred  per  cent.  It  is  only  recently,  however,  that 
the  rush  of  immigration  to  Idaho  has  been  large 
enough  to  attract  special  attention.  The  statistics 
published  by  the  transcontinental  railroads  showed 
that  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  new  settlers 
came  into  Idaho,  western  Montana,  Oregon  and 
Washington  within  six  months,  at  least  one  half  of 
them  settling  in  Idaho.  The  numbers  are  not  de- 
creasing. 

The  magnitude  of  the  government  irrigation 
scheme  for  Idaho  will  be  seen  in  the  following, 
quoted  from  the  government  engineer  in  charge: 

This  area  is  more  than  twice  as  great  as  the  Salt  Lake 
Valley  of  Utah.  It  is  greater  than  the  area  of  land  irri- 
gated at  the  end  of  the  last  decade  in  any  of  the  arid 
states  of  the  West,  with  the  exception  of  Colorado,  Cali- 
fornia and  Montana.  Owing  to  climatic  conditions  which 
prevail  throughout  these  valleys  and  the  character  of  the 
soil,  the  tendency  is  toward  a  subdivision  of  the  land  into 
small  farm  units,  which  insures  a  dense  agricultural  popu- 
lation, intensive  cultivation,  and  the  very  high  returns 
which  will  follow  scientific  agriculture.  This  area  should 
support  a  population  of  at  least  three  hundred  thousand 
people. 

Summed  up  briefly,  the  projects  contemplated  by  the 
government  in  this  state  provide  for  the  reclamation  of 
about  six  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acres  of  desert  land, 
and  the  regulation  of  the  water  supply  for  nearly  as  much 
more. 

The  greater  number  settling  in  these  lands  are 
people  of  small  means,  but  honest,  upright  and  in- 
dustrious.     Among   them    are    school-teachers   and 
employees  in  stores  and  factories,  whose  health  has 
6 


New 
Settlements 


76  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

broken  and  who  are  compelled  to  seek  a  living  in 
the  higher  altitudes  and  pure  air  of  the  mountains 
and  plains.  Many  have  a  hard  struggle  to  make  a 
living  until  they  get  their  land  under  cultivation. 

Rev.  Hugh  W.  Rankin  for  many  years  has  pio- 
neered this  vast  stretch  of  country  for  the  kingdom. 
The  triumphs  of  his  faith  have  been  many.  Rarely 
will  one  find  a  man  so  well  adapted  to  frontier  mis- 
sionary work.  Nothing  seems  too  difficult  for  him. 
No  discouragement  overwhelms  him ;  indeed  his 
Christlike  spirit  seems  to  disarm  opposition  where- 
ever  he  goes.  Largely  through  the  results  of  his 
labors  the  erection  of  the  Synod  of  Idaho  was  made 
possible. 

He  writes: 


We  meet  some  very  pathetic  cases.  Some  of  these 
localities  are  far  removed  from  civilization.  I  organized 
a  Smiday  school  in  a  little  shack  consisting  of  one  room 
with  a  lean-to  on  one  side  for  a  kitchen.  The  occupants 
of  that  humble  home  were  a  young  man  and  his  wife 
recently  from  the  East,  not  very  strong  physically,  and 
possessing  but  little  of  this  world's  goods,  yet  refined  Chris- 
tian people.  They  had  taken  a  homestead  in  this  new 
country  and  broken  up  a  few  acres  of  land,  hoping  to 
make  themselves  a  home.  Within  a  radius  of  three  miles 
I  found  several  more  families.  Among  them  were  three 
Presbyterian  and  Congregationalist  families.  Some  had 
no  church  affiliation,  but  all  were  anxious  for  a  Sunday 
school.  When  we  organized  the  school,  about  twenty  per- 
sons were  present.  This  was  their  first  gospel  service 
and  it  was  deeply  appreciated.  With  tears  of  joy  the 
people  expressed  their  gratitude  and  urged  me,  if  possible, 
to  come  again  soon. 

After   traveling   eighty   miles   by    stage   and    twenty-five 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  DISTRICT  yy 

miles  on  horseback,  we  came  to  a  mountain  hamlet  at 
an  altitude  of  nine  thousand  feet.  Here  were  thirty  or 
forty  miners,  and  five  or  six  families  with  several  children. 
We  invited  them  to  a  service  in  the  evening  in  the  little 
log  boarding  house,  the  only  available  place  to  meet. 
Nearly  the  entire  population  was  present.  Before  the  meet- 
ing began  a  boy  inquired  as  to  the  nature  of  the  meeting. 
I  told  him  it  was  a  meeting  where  he  would  hear  about 
a  Saviour,  and  what  we  must  do  to  be  saved.  He  looked 
at  me  intently  for  a  moment,  and  replied,  "A  Saviour; 
who  is  he?  I  never  heard  of  a  Saviour."  This  boy  had 
grown  almost  to  manhood  in  this  mining  camp  and  had 
never  heard  of  a  Saviour.  One  of  the  miners  said  to-  me, 
"I  have  lived  here  fifteen  years,  and  this  is  the  first  gospel 
service  ever  held  in  this  camp.  You  are  the  first  mission- 
ary to  come  in  and  speak  to  us." 

During  eight  years  twenty-four  Presbyterian 
churches  have  grown  from  one  hundred  and  three 
mission  Sunday  schools. 

The  development  of  the  church  at  Twin  Falls, 
Idaho,  is  an  illustration  of  the  immediate  results 
which  may  be  expected  from  pioneer  work  in  this 
state.  Eight  years  ago  Twin  Falls  was  a  sagebrush 
prairie.  It  now  has  a  population  of  six  thousand. 
There  is  a  Presbyterian  church  of  three  hundred 
communicants,  which  contributes  liberally  to  the 
boards  of  the  church  and  raises  over  four  thousand 
dollars  a  year  for  congregational  expenses.  At 
Pocatello,  four  weeks  after  the  Sunday  school  had 
been  planted  a  church  was  organized,  two  thousand 
dollars  subscribed  toward  a  chapel  building  and  six 
hundred  dollars  for  the  support  of  a  pastor.  These 
are  not  exceptional  cases.  They  represent  the  nat- 
ural development  of  the  pioneer  Sunday-school  mis- 


78  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

sionary  in  new  localities,  where  a  church  organiza- 
tion is  possible,  and  show  conclusively  the  value  of 
the  Sunday  school  as  a  missionary  agency  in  find- 
ing and  holding  these  places  for  Christ.  It  is  the 
Sunday-school  missionary  who  discovers  the  stra- 
tegic points,  leading  forward  the  home  mission 
forces  to  take  possession. 

Additional  This  field  suffers  sadly  from  the  lack  of  workers. 

Needed  A  Strategic  field  such  as  Idaho  should  be  manned 

by  two  or  three  times  the  present  number  of  mis- 
sionary pioneers  to  seize  the  outposts  and  hold 
them  for  the  church.  May  God  speed  the  time 
when  more  of  those  to  whom  he  has  committed 
large  means  may  understand  the  responsibility  of 
their  possessions  and  pour  out  liberally  of  their  gold 
and  silver  to  support  missionaries  in  such  fields  as 
this.  Why  should  the  church  hesitate  in  the  face 
of  such  an  opportunity?  Christ's  kingdom  will 
come  and  America  will  be  his,  but  he  has  given  to 
some  the  privilege  of  helping  largely.  Will  they 
accept  it? 

Utah  Utah  develops  far  less  rapidly  than  Idaho,  mainly 

because  of  the  blighting  influences  of  Mormonism. 
Seventy-five  per  cent  of  Utah's  population  is  Mor- 
mon. Here  the  work  is  exceedingly  difficult,  and 
many  a  home  mission  pastor  has  passed  years  of 
apparently  fruitless  labor  in  ministering  to  small 
and  discouraged  flocks.  Through  the  medium  of 
the  mission  Sunday  school,  however,  many  victories 
have  been  won  which  otherwise  would  have  been 
impossible.  Recently,  in  one  town  of  two  thousand 
people,  of  whom  less  than  fifty  were  Gentiles,  a 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  DISTRICT  79 

mission  Sunday  school  was  organized  which  has 
since  developed  into  a  church.  This  would  have 
been  impracticable  if  an  attempt  had  been  made  to 
start  the  work  by  holding  regular  preaching  serv- 
ices. Similar  work  was  done  at  Ferron,  Utah, 
where  the  home  mission  forces  are  now  in  charge 
and  are  conducting  a  day  school  in  addition  to  a 
flourishing  church. 

The  only  hope  of  redeeming  this  benighted  re-  Mormonism 
gion  is  to  win  the  children.  The  Mormons  realize 
the  value  of  work  for  children,  and  they  give  strict 
attention  to  it.  If  the  Church  of  Christ  will  rise  in 
its  power  and  support  a  vigorous  and  persistent 
campaign  to  teach  the  gospel  to  the  children  of 
Utah  through  the  extension  of  Sunday  schools,  we 
may  reasonably  hope  to  check  the  advancing  in- 
fluence of  this  deadly  foe  of  truth  and  righteous- 
ness. If  we  are  indifferent,  we  shall  surely  awaken 
in  a  not  far  distant  future  to  face  far  more  serious 
conditions.  When  Mormonism  shall  have  spread 
over  this  entire  region  with  its  withering  influence, 
opposed  to  the  genius  of  true  Americanism  and  set- 
ting itself  up  in  defiance  of  our  laws  and  institu- 
tions, it  will  be  too  late.  The  task  is  one  that  de- 
mands attention  now;  and  all  the  missionary  forces 
are  ready  to  cooperate  in  an  aggressive  campaign, 
as  rapidly  as  the  men  and  means  are  provided. 

Shall  we  not  find  in  the  Sunday  school  an  effective 
agency  to  help  in  stamping  out  this  evil? 


THE  SOUTH  AND  SOUTHWEST 


A  denomination  which  stays  with  the  people  in  their  days 
of  adversity  is  the  church  of  their  choice  in  the  years  follow- 
ing. In  proportion  as  a  mission  board  provides  for  rural 
communities  is  its  later  work  in  the  cities  prosperous.  City 
churches  are  largely  built  up  out  of  small  towns.  A  gen- 
eral officer  of  a  prominent  body  complains  that  in  a  wide 
section  of  the  West  his  church  is  almost  without  a  following. 
He  gives  as  a  reason  their  pioneer  neglect  of  rural  com- 
munities there.  The  type  of  Protestantism  to  which  the 
Southwest  will  respond  and  which  will  become  the  church  of 
its  adoption,  is  the  type  that  not  only  selects  advantageous 
centers  where  conditions  are  least  primitive,  but  which  also 
starts  with  the  people  at  the  bottom  and  builds  itself  into 
their  daily  stress  and  struggle.  Whatever  church  is  to  figure 
largely  in  the  Southwest  must  begin  now.  It  must  invest 
largely  and  contribute  its  highest  type  of  men.  It  will  reap 
what  it  sows.  A  hesitating  administration  will  prove  dis- 
astrous.— Ward  Piatt. 


82 


ameers 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  SOUTH  AND  SOUTHWEST 

This  section  has  been  combined  to  form  a  dis- 
trict under  the  direction  of  a  superintendent  located 
at  Nashville,  Tennessee.  It  includes  the  work 
among  the  mountaineers,  and  the  more  extensive 
work  in  the  new  and  rapidly  developing  southwest. 

THE    MOUNTAINEERS 

The  mountaineers  present  one  of  the  most  inter-  The 

■•  1^    1  ^       •         11  ij       Southern 

esting  studies  of  all  mission  fields  in  the  homeland.  Mount- 
They  live  on  the  hillsides  and  in  the  quiet  valleys 
of  the  southern  Appalachians,  extending  through 
nine  states  from  the  southern  border  of  Pennsyl- 
vania to  the  northern  counties  of  Georgia  and  Ala- 
bama, covering  a  region  about  six  hundred  miles 
long  and  two  hundred  miles  wide.  In  the  more 
than  two  hundred  counties  included  in  this  area 
about  four  millions  of  people  are  dwelling,  a  popu- 
lation seemingly  large,  but  comparatively  small  con- 
sidering the  large  territory. 

The  situation  of  these  hardy  people  has  been  de- 
scribed in  these  sentences : 

The  tide  of  westward  emigration  flowed  over  the 
southern  Appalachians,  but  ebbed  away  from  them  as  the 
advancing  flood  flowed  westward.  Domestic  emigration 
and  foreign  immigration  alike  pushed  on  toward  the  magic 
West.     The  Civil  War  served  also  to  divert  attention  from 

83 


84  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

the  mountain  ranges  of  the  South.  And  so  the  nation 
went  on  about  its  toil  and  expansion,  practically  oblivious 
of  one  of  its  most  valuable  possessions.  The  southern 
mountains  were  for  a  long  time  almost  as  much  a  terra 
incognita  to  the  American  people  as  was  the  far  northwest 
before  the  Lewis  and  Clark  expedition. 

And  as  the  entire  section  rested  in  seclusion  from  the 
nation's  knowledge,  so  did  each  part  of  the  purely  moun- 
tain region  live  in  practical  isolation  from  the  rest  of  the 
section.  There  were  no  pikes  or  well-built  highways; 
oftentimes  only  bridle  paths  led  from  settlement  to  set- 
tlement or  from  cabin  to  cabin.  There  are  almost  no 
natural  lines  of  travel  or  transportation,  such  as  are  so 
liberally  afforded  in  the  northern  Appalachians  by  navigable 
rivers  and  lakes.  For  several  hundred  miles  north  and 
south  no  railroad  crossed  the  mountains.  Even  at  present 
there  are  many  counties  that  are  not  entered  by  a  railroad. 
During  the  rainy  season,  travel  even  by  horseback  is  diffi- 
cult in  the  mountain  recesses. 

Thus  the  mountaineer's  horizon  was  limited  by  the 
summits  that  rose  on  every  side,  shutting  him  in  from  the 
rest  of  the  nation  and  forcing  him  tO'  find  his  world  in  his 
own  small  neighborhood.  And  so  the  mountains  have 
merely  rested  in  what  Ruskin  would  call  their  "great 
peacefulness  of  light,"  unknown  and  unknowing  so  far  as 
the  outside  world  has  been  concerned.^ 

The  ancestors  of  the  mountaineers  were  almost 
wholly  Presbyterian,  Scotch-Irish  largely,  with  a 
considerable  contingent  of  Germans  and  a  much 
smaller  company  of  Swiss,  Dutch  and  French. 
Owing  to  our  neglect  they  have  drifted  from  us, 
yet  without  us  they  have  maintained  a  limited  knowl- 
edge of  God's  Word, 

They  are  all   farmers.     Usually  the  valleys  are 


1  Rev.   S.  T.  Wilson,  D.D. 


THE  SOUTH  AND  SOUTHWEST  85 

very  narrow  and  often  the  mountain  sides  are  too 
steep  to  be  plowed.  So  the  corn  must  be  planted 
and  cultivated  with  hoes,  which  are  handled  by 
women  and  children  as  often  as  by  men. 

Long  distances  and  rough  roads  deprive  the  hus- 
bandman of  that  strong  incentive  to  industry — a 
market  for  his  products.  So  the  people  have  settled 
down  to  raising  no  more  than  enough,  for  they  say, 
"Enough's  a  plenty."  Consequently  the  majority 
of  the  people  in  the  back  counties  are  very  poor, 
living  in  small  cabins,  often  of  a  single  room  and 
sometimes  windowless. 

The  opportunities  for  getting  an  education  have 
been  small,  but — with  few  if  any  books,  and  no 
papers — the  demand  for  an  education  has  been 
smaller,  for  the  mountaineer  can  hoe  corn,  trade 
horses  and  even  preach  without  "larnin'."  One 
such  thus  announced  his  services,  "Come  to  meetin' 
to-night;  you'll  hear  the  pure  gospel,  for  the  man 
who's  goin'  to  preach  hain't  got  a  smidgen  of 
larnin'." 

The  one  supreme  incentive  needed  by  these  peo- 
ple is  found  in  the  Sunday  school,  which  brings  to  pj"^""^ 
the  people  the  Bible  and  helps  in  its  study,  giving 
both  the  ideal  life  and  the  impulse  toward  it.  Every- 
body, old  and  young,  attends  the  Sunday  school. 
It  restores  the  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath,  it  stirs  the 
people  to  searching  the  Scriptures  for  themselves,  to 
discover  its  truths  and  to  apply  these  truths  to  their 
lives.  Now  that  there  is  something  in  their  hands 
to  be  read,  many  of  the  older  people  learn  to  read. 
One    Sunday-school    superintendent   said :     "When 


86  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

Brother  Baxter  (one  of  our  Sunday-school  mission- 
aries) came  to  our  settlement  we  knew  nothing  about 
Sunday  schools.  He  asked  me  to  be  superintendent ; 
I  couldn't  read,  but  I  was  willin'.  Now  I  can  read 
the  Bible  as  well  as  common  readers."  Dozens  in 
our  Sunday  schools  can  give  similar  testimony.  As 
a  result  the  day  schools  have  a  larger  and  more 
regular  attendance.  For  these  better  teachers  are 
demanded ;  the  desire  is  for  those  who  can  help  in 
the  Sunday  school.  The  bare  walls  of  the  houses 
are  decorated  with  Sunday-school  picture  cards ; 
the  people  begin  to  dress  better.  One  superinten- 
dent of  a  new  school  came  five  or  six  weeks  in  his 
shirtsleeves,  overalls  and  bare  feet;  the  secretary, 
a  woman  of  about  forty,  came  in  her  bare  feet, 
but  soon  the  superintendent  had  on  new  shirt,  new 
trousers  and  shoes,  and  the  secretary  had  a  new  hat 
and  a  pair  of  new  shoes.  The  Sunday  school  in- 
cites to  better  things  in  every  direction.  One  old 
man  said,  "I'm  mighty  glad  you  come,  you  done  a 
heap  for  my  old  woman  (she  was  converted),  and 
you've  raised  the  price  of  land." 

Among  the  mountaineers,  as  elsewhere,  the  Sun- 
day-school missionary  has  a  distinct  task  which  he 
can  carry  forward  alone  if  need  be  to  the  point 
where  churches  are  organized  and  buildings  erected 
for  them,  and  the  way  fully  prepared  for  the  home 
missionary.  Through  the  labors  of  these  work- 
ers twelve  hundred  mission  Sunday  schools  have 
been  organized  in  this  vast  region.  Out  of  these 
schools  seventy-two  Presbyterian  churches  have  de- 
veloped. 


THE  SOUTH  AND  SOUTHWEST  87 

Many  of  tlie  schools,  however,  may  never  develop  Developing 
into  churches,  but  when  we  consider  that  in  many 
cases  they  stand  as  the  only  influence  for  righteous- 
ness, it  will  be  agreed  that  their  faithful  officers 
and  teachers  are  doing  a  work  that  will  count  for 
eternity.  One  of  our  most  successful  mountaineer 
Sunday-school  missionaries  came  from  an  obscure 
mountain  Sunday  school.  There,  under  the  faith- 
ful teaching  of  a  consecrated  woman,  he  found 
Christ  and  was  led  to  devote  his  life  to  saving 
other  mountain  boys  and  girls.  Several  successful 
Presbyterian  ministers,  who  have  been  called  to  be- 
come pastors  of  prominent  churches,  found  the  im- 
pulse toward  the  service  of  Christ  in  one  of  the 
little  mountain  Sunday  schools,  meeting  perhaps  in 
an  old  log  district  schoolhouse. 

A  Sunday-school  missionary  who  has  labored  for 
many  years  in  the  mountains  of  eastern  Kentucky, 
writes : 

In  the  past  twelve  years  there  have  gone  out  from  our  Helped  into 
work  here  about  fifty  men  and  women  who  are  now  hold- 
ing lucrative  positions  in  seven  or  eight  different  states, 
and  are  doing  excellent  Christian  work.  This  is  hard 
on  the  work  here,  for  just  as  soon  as  the  boys  and  girls 
are  educated  enough  to  do  Sunday-school  work,  and  be- 
come of  age,  they  leave  home  and  seek  associations  more 
congenial  to^  their  new  life.  Never  has  one  whom  we  have 
brought  up  in  the  Sunday  school  brought  dishonor  upon 
the  work,  but  wherever  they  have  gone  they  have  been 
noted  for  their  strict  adherence  to  the  teaching  of  God's 
Word. 

During  the  few  months  of  Sunday  school  held  under 
a  tree  at  Upper  Chloe,  two  young  men  were  led  to  Christ. 
They  came  to  Pikeville  to  school,  and  to-day  one  is  county 


a  Useful 
Career 


88  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

superintendent  of  public  instruction  here  in  Pike  County, 
and  the  other  is  in  business  in  Cincinnati,  with  a  large  in- 
come. 

A  West  Virginia  missionaiy  says: 

When  I  think  of  the  two  hundred  and  eighty  workers 
and  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty  pupils  in  these  neg- 
lected localities  on  my  field — when  I  think  of  them  lo- 
cated in  little  schoolhouses  almost  without  equipment — 
when  I  look  into  the  bright,  eager  faces  of  those  who  are 
hungering  and  thirsting  for  the  glad  tidings,  I  say  there 
is  no  work  that  pays  so  rich  dividends  as  the  work  of  the 
Sunday-school  missionary.  Dividends  in  workers — men 
and  women  trained  up  for  God  and  Christian  citizenship. 

Think  what  this  means  to  the  future  of  this  re- 
gion.    Is  it  not  to  the  lasting  credit  of  our  church 
that  she   sends   forth  messengers  to  perform  this 
Christhke  service? 
A  Faithful  In  studying  the  conditions  and  the  progress  of 

missionary  effort  in  this  field,  mention  should  be 
made  of  the  noble  and  self-denying  labors  of  Dr. 
Christopher  Humble  of  sacred  memory. 

In  1895  the  Board  of  Publication  and  Sabbath- 
School  Work  first  secured  the  services  of  Dr. 
Humble,  placing  him  in  charge  of  Sunday-school 
missions  among  the  mountaineers  of  West  Virginia, 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  For  fourteen  years  Dr. 
Humble  labored  faithfully  in  that  field,  living  the 
life  of  the  people  in  those  mountain  fastnesses,  and 
ministering  to  their  needs  in  many  ways.  With 
rare  patience,  with  sweet  and  gentle  spirit,  and  yet 
with  a  firmness  born  of  true  conviction,  this  man 


Worker 


1.  Rev.  W.   a.   Provine,   D.D. 

2.  A   mining    town    in   the   Southwest. 

3.  A  mountaineer's  home  and   family. 

4.  A    mission    Sunday    school    in    the    Kentucky    mountains. 

5.  Rev.   Christopher  Humble,   M.D. 


THE  SOUTH  AND  SOUTHWEST  89 

of  God  wrestled  with  the  difficult  problems  con- 
fronting him.  The  mountain  work  in  those  days 
was  not  yet  organized. 

With  the  aid  of  the  missionary  funds  of  the 
Board  he  succeeded  in  gathering  a  force  of  eighteen 
or  twenty  Sunday-school  missionaries,  locating  them 
at  strategic  points.  From  their  labors  the  results 
have  been  truly  marvelous.  Dr.  Humble  also  origi- 
nated the  plan,  and  organized  the  work,  of  the 
women  Bible  readers  of  the  Woman's  Board  of 
Home  Missions,  whose  labors  have  been  blessed 
of  God  in  following  and  developing  the  missions 
planted  by  the  Sunday-school  missionaries. 

Dr.  Humble  was  beloved  by  all  the  mountaineers. 
He  understood  them,  and  they  trusted  him  implic- 
itly. Many  benighted  souls  in  those  dark  mountain 
cabins  found  peace  and  freedom,  as  the  light  of 
God's  love  dawned  upon  them  through  the  Christ- 
like character  and  faithful  words  of  this  man,  who 
opened  the  Book  to  them  and  gently  led  them  out 
of  their  ignorance  and  superstition.  The  mem- 
or>^  of  this  hero  of  the  Cross  remains  fresh  and 
honored  among  these  appreciative  people. 

This  was  his  appeal  in  their  behalf: 

Long  these  people  have  waited,  silently  except  to  God. 
Is  it  for  the  Presbyterian  Church  they  are  waiting?  So 
God's  providence  seems  to  say,  for  truly  its  word  is,  "Be- 
hold. I  have  set  before  thee  a  door  opened."  Shall  we  enter 
while  the  door  is  open,  or  shall  we  permit  this  noble  people 
at  our  very  doors,  now  awakening,  to  be  the  prey  of  im- 
morality, Mormonism,  or  other  forms  of  godlessness?  May 
the  voice  of  God  move  our  church  and  move  her  now  to 
the  rescue  of  our  mountain  brethren  and  their  children. 


90 


ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 


Growth 


THE   NEW   SOUTHWEST 

It  has  been  truly  said  that  "if  American  Protes- 
tantism were  to  center  in  the  Southwest  all  its  mis- 
sionary energies  now  employed  in  different  parts 
of  the  United  States,  it  would  find  there  an  ample 
field." 

In  our  view  of  the  Southwest  we  must  make 
a  comprehensive  survey  of  a  vast  territory.  The 
states  included  are  Arizona,  New  Mexico,  Arkan- 
sas, Oklahoma,  Texas  and  the  western  section  of 
Louisiana,  with  a  total  population  of  over  eight 
million.  In  missionary  literature  we  have  grown 
accustomed  to  refer  to  this  immense  field  as  "The 
New  Southwest,"  mainly  because  of  the  amaz- 
ing progress  of  its  development  during  the  past 
decade. 

The  population  of  Oklahoma  has  grown  in  ten 
years  from  three  hundred  and  ninety-eight  thousand 
to  one  million  six  hundred  and  fifty  thousand. 
Texas  added  nearly  a  million  in  a  decade.  Arizona 
and  New  Mexico  almost  doubled  their  population 
during  the  same  period.  Never  has  our  country  seen 
such  rapid  development  of  new  land.  Towns  and 
villages  spring  up  as  though  touched  by  the  magi- 
cian's wand.  The  railroads  report  overloaded  trains 
carrying  home-seekers  into  this  new  land  of  promise. 
Section  after  section  carried  thousands  into  the  rich 
and  well-advertised  Pecos  Valley,  where  men  and 
women  from  every  walk  of  life  hoped  to  find  health, 
wealth  and  happiness.  One  hundred  thousand  a 
month  was  the  rate  of  increase  in  population  dur- 
ing the  flood  tide  of  emigration. 


THE  SOUTH  AND  SOUTHWEST 


91 


The  immensity  of  this  region  is  well  described 
by  Dr.  Strong: 

Place  the  50,000,000  inhabitants  of  the  United  States 
in  1880  all  in  Texas,  and  the  population  would  not  be  so 
dense  as  that  of  Germany.  Place  them  in  New  Mexico, 
and  the  density  of  population  would  not  be  so  great  as 
that  of  Belgium.  Those  50,000,000  might  all  have  been 
comfortably  sustained  in  Texas.  After  allowing,  say 
50,000  square  miles  for  "desert,"  Texas  could  have  pro- 
duced all  our  food  crops  in  1879 — grown,  as  we  have  seen, 
on  164,215  square  miles  of  land — could  have  raised  the 
world's  supply  of  cotton,  12,000,000  bales,  at  one  bale  to 
the  acre,  on  19,000  square  miles,  and  then  have  had 
remaining,  for  a  cattle  range,  a  territory  larger  than 
the  state  of  New  York.  Place  the  population  of  the 
United  States  in  i8go  all  in  Texas,  and  it  would  not 
be  so  dense  as  that  of  Italy;  and  if  it  were  as  crowded 
as  England  this  one  state  would  contain  129,000,000 
souls. 

This  region  presents  a  most  inviting  field  for 
pioneer  missionary  work.  Here  the  work  must  be 
done  from  the  ground  up.  It  is  distinctly  a  work 
of  foundation-laying,  and  the  Sunday  school  is  the 
most  effective  agency  through  which  to  do  it.  The 
people  who  are  making  their  homes  here  are  ab- 
sorbed in  the  struggle  for  existence.  They  have  no 
money  to  support  a  church  and  a  settled  pastor  if 
religion  were  brought  to  them  in  that  form.  But 
they  welcome  the  Sunday  school,  and  will  gladly 
send  the  children,  besides  helping  in  it  themselves. 
It  makes  no  financial  demands  upon  the  community, 
but  it  is  the  wedge  which  opens  the  way  for  the 
church  and  makes  its  necessity  felt. 
7 


92  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

Arkansas  Couiity   after  county  may  be   found   without   a 

single  minister  of  the  gospel.  One  correspondent 
writes  of  a  section  of  Arkansas  comprising  sixteen 
counties  with  but  five  ministers.  Seventeen  counties 
in  eastern  Texas  have  but  ten  active  ministers. 
Amarillo  Presbytery  comprises  forty-six  counties  in 
the  state  of  Texas  and  covers  forty  thousand  square 
miles.  Think  of  a  single  Sunday-school  missionary 
working  that  vast  region !  Until  a  few  years  ago 
these  wide  extending  plains  were  in  the  hands  of 
the  cattlemen,  and  were  used  as  ranches  for  cattle. 
Now,  they  have  undergone  almost  a  complete 
change,  having  been  in  late  years  cut  up  into  com- 
paratively small  farms  and  settled  by  the  thousands 
of  home-seekers  that  in  the  last  few  years  have  left 
the  older  settled  parts  of  our  country  to  seek  their 
fortune  in  this  promising  section.  Railroads  are 
crossing  and  recrossing  this  new  country,  and  nu- 
merous towns  and  cities  are  springing  up  like  magic 
in  every  direction.  Our  church  has  organizations 
in  nearly  half  of  the  county  seats.  Less  than  half 
of  these  churches  have  their  own  Sunday  schools. 
The  future  of  this  very  interesting  new  country — 
a  rich  agricultural  district  larger  than  many  of  the 
eastern  states — is  uncommonly  promising,  and  its 
occupation  by  the  church  presents  a  strategic  op- 
portunity to  us  to  accomplish  a  great  mission.  The 
public  schoolhouses  springing  up  everywhere  stand 
with  open  doors  to  the  Sunday-school  missionary 
who  gives  the  scattered  children  of  the  plains  the 
opportunity  for  the  regular,  systematic  study  of 
the  Word  of  God. 


THE  SOUTH  AND  SOUTHWEST  93 

A  similar  story  of  marvelous  growth  may  be  told  Oklahoma 
concerning  Oklahoma.  A  few  years  ago  its  thirty- 
nine  thousand  square  miles  were  alive  with  cattle. 
There  were  no  settlements,  save  now  and  then  a 
cowman's  ranch  with  his  cowboys  and  the  Indians. 
All  this  has  undergone  a  change,  as  if  by  magic. 
To-day  civilization  rules  supreme. 

The  church  has  met  the  demands  of  development 
in  the  cities;  but  in  smaller  towns  and  in  the 
country  the  work  is  far  behind.  There  are  small 
settlements  off  the  railroad,  many  of  which  have 
never  been  visited  by  an  ordained  minister. 

A  Sunday-school  missionary  whose  field  covered 
more  than  seventeen  thousand  square  miles  of  east- 
ern Oklahoma,  traveled  nineteen  thousand  miles  by 
team  and  afoot  during  two  and  a  half  years  of 
labor.  He  visited  two  thousand  five  hundred  fami- 
lies, preached  two  hundred  and  forty  times,  dis- 
tributed three  hundred  Bibles,  besides  a  large  num- 
ber of  religious  tracts,  and  organized  twenty-five 
Sunday  schools,  all  of  these  being  located  in  dis- 
tricts where  the  people  were  entirely  destitute  of 
any  religious  influence.  It  is  estimated  that  three 
fourths  of  the  men  and  boys,  and  one  half  of  all 
the  people  are  outside  any  religious  body. 

What  is  to  become  of  the  children  growing  up 
under  such  influences  and  with  so  few  advantages  ? 
The  Sunday-school  missionary  is  the  only  man  who 
goes  forth  with  a  special  message  for  the  children 
— the  message  that  lifts  them  up  and  inspires  them 
with  hopefulness.  How  shall  we  determine  the 
character  of  the  future  men  and  women  of  Okla- 


94  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

homa  but  by  the  religious  training  the  children  of 
to-day  are  receiving? 

This  entire  district  is  under  the  supervision  of  a 
district  superintendent,  Rev.  W.  A.  Provine,  D.D., 
with  headquarters  at  Nashville.  Dr.  Provine  en- 
tered upon  his  work  subsequent  to  the  union  with 
the  Cumberland  Church.  He  had  long  been  identi- 
fied with  the  Sunday-school  work  of  that  denomi- 
nation as  the  president  of  its  Board  of  Publication 
for  a  number  of  years,  and  was  the  beloved  pastor 
of  one  of  its  flourishing  churches.  His  ripe  experi- 
ence and  his  familiarity  with  the  conditions  through- 
out the  South  and  Southwest  have  made  him  one 
of  the  most  efficient  of  the  Board's  field  superin- 
tendents. His  capacity  for  leadership  is  unlimited, 
and  the  pastors  as  well  as  Sunday-school  workers 
in  that  vast  region  look  to  him  for  inspiration  and 
stimulus  in  their  efforts  to  possess  the  field  for  Jesus 
Christ, 
Arizona  and  Arizoua  and  New  Mexico  have  entered  statehood. 
They  present  a  fertile  field  for  missionary  effort. 
One  Sunday-school  missionary,  who  has  been  labor- 
ing alone  in  that  great  field  for  several  years,  de- 
scribes the  situation  thus : 

It  is  conservative  to  estimate  that  25,000  people  came 
to  us  in  1910  and  191 1,  and  they  are  permanent  settlers, 
having  come  to  take  advantage  of  the  large  opportunities 
provided  by  the  government  in  its  improved  irrigation  sys- 
tem. Salt  River  Valley  alone  gives  us  250,000  acres,  all 
ready  now  for  settlement,  Imperial  Valley,  watered  from 
Laguna  dam,  gives  us  the  advantage  of  150,000  more  acres, 
which  will  have  abundance  of  water  in  the  next  six  months; 
Casa  Grande  Valley  with  its  7S,ooo  acres  is  to  be  watered 


THE  SOUTH  AND  SOUTHWEST 


95 


from  the  Gila  River,  and  more  than  a  half-million  acres 
of  other  lands  like  San-Simon  and  Sulphur  Springs  Val- 
ley, and  numerous  other  tracts  where  they  anticipate  water- 
ing from  pumping  plants,  small  streams  and  mountain 
watersheds  will  give  resources  for  the  largest  agricultural 
claims  in  the  United  States. 

Arizona  has  reached  the  point  where  it  does  not  de- 
pend on  mining  for  thrift ;  mines  have  always  been  an 
uncertain  quantity.  We  have  one  mine  in  the  state  where 
we  thought  we  could  do  good  work;  for  the  company 
refused  to  have  liquor  sold  on  the  ground.  But  they  were 
just  waiting  for  their  price,  for  a  man  has  purchased  from 
the  company  the  right  to  sell  liquor,  and  pays  the  com- 
pany fifty  cents  per  head  for  every  man  working  for  it ;  this 
amount  he  pays  every  month.  Fifteen  hundred  men  were 
at  work  when  the  contract  was  made,  and  the  camp  is 
growing.  No  difference  what  a  man's  attitude  to  the 
business  of  selling  whisky  is,  if  he  works  for  this  com- 
pany, he  is  sold  for  fifty  cents  per  month  to  support  the 
whisky  business  in  that  camp.  Sunday-school  work  is 
pretty  hard  in  that  town.  Though  they  have  two  thou- 
sand people,  there  is  no  church. 

The  need  of  a  Sunday-school  missionary  is  great  here 
for  the  reason  that  these  people  now  coming  in  want  re- 
ligious services  and  yet  cannot  have  churches  and  pastors. 
It  takes  much  preparatory  work  before  they  can  have  these 
privileges.  Schoolhouses  have  to  be  built  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  children,  while  the  bread  earner  must  keep 
busy  at  his  post  to  support  his  family  till  he  gets  his  ground 
in  condition,  and  water  for  it  so  that  he  can  raise  a  crop, 
and  in  this  time  a  pastor  in  such  a  territory  would  suffer 
for  want  of  support.  The  Sunday-school  missionary  will 
organize  a  Sunday  school  in  that  schoolhouse  and  visit 
them  as  often  as  he  can  and  hold  services  for  them  till  the 
community  is  sufficiently  strong  to  have  a  church  building 
and  a  pastor. 

The  Sunday  school  has  met  the  needs  of  rural  districts. 
In  such  places  I  have  organized  over  sixty  Sunday  schools, 


Camps 


96  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

and  from  these  schools  there  have  developed  twelve 
churches  and  nine  of  them  have  built  chapels. 

Only  one  church  of  any  denomination  has  come 
from  other  work  than  his  own  in  seven  years. 
Mining  The  same  missionary   tells   in  his  characteristic, 

breezy  fashion  a  most  interesting  story  showing 
something  of  the  lights  and  shadows  of  missionary 
life  in  this  needy  region : 

Miami  is  a  good  example  of  what  Sunday-school  work 
can  do  to  meet  the  needs  of  rural  communities.  It  is 
twelve  miles  from  Globe  and  had  about  a  thousand  people 
before  anyone  ever  preached  there.  No  railroad  had  yet 
reached  it;  there  was  no  hotel,  and  scarcely  a  place  to  eat. 
Visits  had  to  be  made  to  the  kitchen  door,  and  they  had 
to  be  very  short.  There  was  no  place  to  preach,  not  even 
a  schoolhouse.  The  stage  made  the  round  trip  in  the  day 
time  and  night  was  the  best  and  only  time  for  a  service. 
I  asked  for  the  privilege  of  holding  a  service  out  of  doors, 
and  was  told  I  could  do  so  if  I  wanted  to  take  the  risk 
of  getting  an  audience.  I  drove  out  from  Globe  so  that 
I  could  return  to  a  place  to  sleep.  That  night  I  had  a 
large  congregation.  I  found  that  no  one  would  entertain  a 
Sunday  school  in  his  house.  I  asked  them  if  they  would 
read  Sunday-school  papers  if  I  would  send  them  to  their 
homes.  They  said  they  would.  The  next  trip  I  found  a 
lady  who  was  willing  to  take  the  school  as  long  as  she 
stayed  in  camp.  While  she  was  getting  ready  to  move, 
the  missionary  was  busy  with  the  company  and  finally  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  them  to  build  and  equip  a  little  chapel 
for  the  Sunday  school. 

In  Miami  Flats  we  have  a  church  building  worth  $2,000 
and  a  membership  of  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  and 
six  Sunday  schools,  all  within  a  half-hour's  walk. 

The  rural  Sunday  school  has  met  the  need  of  all  of 
the  waste  places  in  the  southwest  for  many  years.     I  know 


THE  SOUTH  AND  SOUTHWEST 


97 


of  one  Christian  family  living  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  from  a  railroad  station.  The  father  superintends 
the  Sunday  school,  buries  the  dead  and  by  virtue  of  his 
civil  office — performs  marriage  ceremonies.  I  know  a  lady 
in  one  of  the  small  camps  in  Arizona,  who — so  far  as  I  know 
— is  the  only  Christian  in  the  camp.  She  is  superintendent 
of  the  Sunday  school  and  is  called  on  to  conduct  funerals. 
One  day  she  was  asked  to  conduct  the  funeral  of  one  of 
the  roughest  miners  in  camp. 

Some  of  our  rural  Sunday  schools  have  arrangements 
by  which  members  are  received  on  the  visit  of  the  general 
missionary  and  enrolled  on  the  books  of  the  nearest 
church.  The  pastor  sends  them  encouraging  letters  occa- 
sionally, stimulating  them  in  their  Sunday-school  work. 

Rightly  administered,  and  with  an  adequate  in-  Whkening 
vestment  of  missionary  funds,  the  reUgious  develop-  "  * 
ment  of  the  Southwest  should  keep  pace  with  its 
growth  in  population.  The  moral  sentiment  is  there 
and  it  expresses  itself  in  no  uncertain  terms.  This 
is  the  section  that  has  set  the  pace  for  the  older 
parts  of  the  country  in  stamping  out  the  saloon. 
They  have  grappled  with  the  problem  fearlessly, 
and  at  the  very  outset  Oklahoma  took  its  place  in 
the  ranks  of  prohibition  states.  Texas  has  ex- 
pressed her  desire  for  the  overthrow  of  the  liquor 
traffic,  eighty  per  cent  of  the  state  being  "dry"  ter- 
ritory. Arkansas  has  driven  out  the  saloon  from 
sixty-three  of  her  seventy-five  counties.  Arizona 
and  New  Mexico  both  have  effective  local  option 
laws.  Should  not  the  church  with  all  its  mighty 
force  of  men  and  means  follow  up  this  advantage? 
This  is  no  time  for  begging  for  paltry  hundreds; 
the  need  demands  thousands.     There  should  be  an 


98  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

outpouring  of  every  available  dollar  of  misssion- 
ary  money,  investing  it,  with  a  deep-rooted  faith  in 
God's  blessing,  for  the  support  of  workers  to  evan- 
gelize these  "waste  places." 

In  the  older  parts  of  the  Southwest  the  Sunday- 
school  missionary  finds  that  while  churches  have  in 
many  cases  been  organized  many  years  ago,  they 
have  never  had  Sunday  schools.  This  condition 
revealed  itself  especially  with  reference  to  the  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian  churches  which  came  into  our 
Assembly  under  the  union  of  1907.  Scores  of  these 
churches  were  without  Sunday  schools.  The  call 
came  to  the  Board  of  Publication  and  Sabbath- 
School  Work  to  send  its  missionaries  into  these  lo- 
calities and  to  establish  Sunday  schools.  Churches 
which  have  had  an  indififerent  existence  for  years 
have  thus  been  revived,  rebuilt  and  their  influence 
extended  since  they  have  established  Sunday  schools 
for  their  children.  This  is  a  feature  of  Sunday- 
school  missionary  work  which  is  not  met  elsewhere, 
but  it  is  to  the  credit  of  our  church  that  we  have 
a  force  of  workers  who  could  awaken  these  churches 
to  the  necessity  of  caring  for  the  religious  training 
of  their  youth. 


THE  PACIFIC  SLOPE 


I  am  an  ardent  believer  in  the  cause  of  Sunday-school 
missions  and  my  belief  is  grounded  on  a  practical  experience. 
While  coming  into  touch  with  home  mission  stations,  as 
chairman  of  synodical  committees,  in  Colorado  and  Minne- 
sota, I  came  to  see  that  the  pioneer  work  was  really  being 
done  by  Sunday-school  missionaries  who  were  prospecting 
the  territory  of  new  settlements  and  planting  schools  where 
there  was  a  sufficient  number  of  children  to  permit  of  organi- 
zation. Very  frequently,  for  years,  the  school  thus  planted 
provided  the  only  means  of  grace  for  the  settlers  in  small 
villages  and  country  districts.  My  churches  for  years  have 
supported  a  Sunday-school  missionary.  The  dividends  are 
already  assured. — IV.  H.   W.  Boyle. 

The  field  in  which  this  work  is  being  done  is  the  most 
needy  on  American  soil.  It  is  not  in  our  cities,  or  in  our 
prosperous  rural  districts,  but  in  remote  places  which  have 
no  stated  means  of  grace,  or  those  nearer  at  hand  that  are 
inhabited  by  non-churchgoing  people,  chiefly  foreigners  or 
natives  who  have  so  far  fallen  away  from  their  Christian  in- 
heritance as  to  become  practically  heathen.  Out  through  these 
districts  the  Sunday-school  missionary  goes,  opening  schools, 
holding  divine  services  in  schoolhouses,  or  in  homes  that  are 
easy  of  access,  visiting  from  house  to  house,  and  spending 
seven  days  a  week  in  personal  religious  work.  No  one  can 
overrate  the  result  of  such  activity.  Families  long  weaned 
from  church  and  religious  obligations  are  awakened,  the  chil- 
dren are  given,  for  the  first  time  in  many  cases,  religious  in- 
struction ;  and  a  Christian  testimony  borne  to  the  careless 
and  wicked  which  is  arresting  and,  in  a  large  number  of  in- 
stances, must  prove  transforming.  These  men  are  reaching 
neighborhoods  hitherto  untouched  by  our  Home  Mission 
Board,  and  doing  it  in  the  most  wholesome  and  practical 
■way. — John  Balconi  Shaw. 

The  church  of  God  does  right  nobly,  but  did  any  body  of 
people  in  any  age  live  in  such  a  world  at  home,  and  face 
such  a  world  Pacificward  as  do  we  just  now?  The  situation 
is  as  glorious  as  stupendous.  Nothing  but  our  best  will  save 
other  races  and  ourselves.  We  rise  or  fall  together.  We 
cannot  leave  this  for  another  generation.  It  will  be  deter- 
mined before  then.  The  battle  is  on.  America  is  the  fortress. 
Who  wins  America  wins  ultimate  world-capitulation. — Ward 
Piatt. 


100 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  PACIFIC  SLOPE 

In  the  states  of  Washington,  Oregon,  CaHfornia 
and  Nevada,  Sunday-school  missions  has  scored 
many  triumphs.  It  has  proven  its  adaptation  to  the 
needs  of  the  mining  and  lumber  camps  as  well  as 
to  the  scattered  families  in  the  agricultural  sections. 
This  work  has  figured  largely  also  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  cities  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  A  notable 
instance  of  this  is  the  Westminster  Church  of  Port- 
land, which  was  organized  as  a  mission  Sunday 
school  in  1889,  and  which — in  June,  1912 — laid  the 
comer  stone  for  its  new  edifice  to  cost  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  thousand  dollars.  Within  three 
years  seven  Presbyterian  churches  were  established 
in  King  County,  Washington,  and  in  Seattle  and 
vicinity — as  the  result  of  Sunday-school  missions. 
In  Spokane,  five  Presbyterian  churches  developed 
within  six  years,  and  four  in  Tacoma.  Though  the 
force  of  workers  has  been  comparatively  small  the 
results  are  large,  as  we  think  of  the  influence  which 
this  agency  has  wielded  in  planting  the  blue  ban- 
ner of  Presbyterianism  in  these  great  commercial 
centers,  and  in  holding  these  fields  until  the  home 
mission  reenforcements  could  come  in  and  take  pos- 
session. 

The  growth  of  this  state  is  little  short  of  mar-  Washington 
velous.     Its  population  in   1900  was  five  hundred 

lOI 


102  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

and  eighteen  thousand  one  hundred  and  three,  while 
according  to  the  1910  census  it  was  one  milHon  one 
hundred  and  forty-one  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
ninety.  Doubtless  the  next  census  will  bring  it 
easily  to  the  two  million  mark.  The  opening  of 
the  Panama  Canal  will  give  increased  stimulus  to 
the  development  of  the  coast  states,  and  there  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  the  next  decade  will  see 
even  mightier  movements  in  this  region  than  the 
past  with  its  record-breaking  growth.  Rev.  W.  O. 
Forbes,  who  for  many  years  has  rendered  faithful 
service  as  a  Sunday-school  missionary  in  this  state, 
writes : 

The  urban  population — in  towns  of  2,500  and  over  in 
the  state — is  605,530  comprising  27  cities  in  all,  an  increase 
of  166.4  P^r  cent  in  ten  years ;  while  the  rural  population — 
all  the  towns  under  2,500  and  the  open  country — is  536,460 
an  increase  of  87.7  per  cent.  There  are  150  incorporated 
towns  in  the  rural  parts.  Forty-two  of  these  have  a  popu- 
lation between  1,000  and  2,500;  45  have  between  500  and 
1,000.  There  are  63  towns  of  less  than  500  people  with  a 
total  population  of  120,533.  Four  hundred  and  fifteen 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  twenty-eight  live  in  the  open 
country.  While  the  urban  population  in  the  whole  union 
increased  but  34.9  per  cent  in  the  decade  Washington 
urban  population  increased  166  per  cent  and  while  the 
rural  population  of  the  whole  country  increased  but  11.2 
per  cent  that  of  Washington  increased,  as  stated  above, 
87.7  per  cent.  This  will  show  the  rapid  growth  of  our 
state  with  which  we  have  tried  to  keep  a  pace  in  our 
missionary  activities. 

Take  Grandview  Church  for  instance.  Ten  years  ago 
there  were  not  enough  people  located  there  to  make  a 
voting  precinct;  now  there  are  over  2,000  people,  all  in  the 
open  country,  excepting  those  in  the  little  town  of  Grand- 


THE  PACIFIC  SLOPE  103 

view,  Where  there  are  320  people.  This  town  is  on  a  forty- 
acre  tract  which  was  the  home  of  an  elder  in  the  Behna 
church,  organized  eight  years  ago  in  the  Belma  school- 
house.  In  another  schoolhouse  near  by  I  organized  an- 
other little  Sunday  school  and  church  called  Calvary.  Two 
years  later  we  consolidated  the  two,  and  moved  the  Belma 
church  building  to  Grandview.  Two  years  afterwards  the 
consolidated  church  became  self-supporting,  paying  its 
pastor  a  $1,200  salary,  enlarged  the  church  at  a  cost  of 
$3,000,  and  reported  last  year  a  Sunday  school  of  236 
pupils. 

Some  of  our  best  opportunities  for  work  are  afforded    Lomber 
by  the  people  of  the   lumber  and  mining  localities.     Our    Camp» 
church  has  been  particularly  attentive  here.     Some  of  these 

towns  grow  up  quickly  and  make  emergency  cases.    P , 

for  instance,  a  mill  town  owned  by  the  company,  grew  to 
a  population  of  1,500  in  one  year.  There  were  1,000  peo- 
ple in  it  before  a  Sunday  school  was  organized  and  I 
organized  that  in  a  mess-house  with  83  present.  In  a 
month  it  had  grown  to  130  and  was  a  well-equipped  school 
with  supplies,  songbooks  and  an  organ.  The  company 
controlled  the  situation  and  urged  a  union  church  which 
was  finally  organized  before  the  end  of  the  first  year,  a 
self-supporting  church  on  the  plan  of  the  Moody  church 
in  Chicago,  with  a  Presbyterian  minister  as  pastor  -who 
is  still  in  charge.  They  now  have  a  church  plant  cost- 
ing $5,000,  self-supporting,  on  a  salary  of  $1,200  and  manse, 
reporting  a  Sunday-school  membership  of  351. 

Out  in  the  foothills,  on  the  homesteads  in  the  dry 
farming  and  lumber  lands,  in  the  mining  and  lumber  camps, 
there  are  children,  and  many  of  them,  that  are  without 
Sunday  schools  or  other  gospel  privileges.  I  have  preached 
in  local  cities  and  organized  schools  and  churches  where 
the  children  were  growing  up,  10,  12,  16  and  even  19  years 
old,  that  had  never  been  in  a  church  and  had  never  heard 
anyone  preach  but  myself,  and  out  of  these  very  places 
have  come  many  of  the  choicest  experiences  of  my  ministry 
and  some  of  the  most  promising  and  permanent  results. 


104  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

Then  the  foreign  population  nominally  Catholic  are  woe- 
fully neglected  in  so  many  of  our  mining  towns. 

Work  in  many  of  the  isolated  communities  does  not 
always  mean  permanency,  but  it  does  mean  blessing.  In 
such  places,  and  through  our  work,  many  of  our  country 
boys  and  girls  are  sent  out  for  an  education.  Many  of 
these  sturdy  fellows  have  gone  into  the  ministry  and  other 
professions,  and  many  of  the  girls  have  entered  on  useful 
and  happy  lives.  I  have  no  patience  with  the  idea  that 
no  missionary  work  is  worth  while  that  does  not  issue  in 
a  church,  or,  when  it  does  result  in  a  church,  if  it  does 
not  promise  speedy  and  permanent  self-support. 

Oregon  ^he  development  of  Oregon  has  not  kept  pace 

with  that  of  its  neighbor  on  the  north,  ow^ing  largely 
to  the  lack  of  railroad  facilities,  but  this  is  novi^, 
happily,  being  remedied.  The  area  of  this  state  is 
equal  to  that  of  the  New  England  States,  besides 
several  of  the  Middle  Atlantic  States.  A  single 
county  is  as  large  as  the  state  of  New  York.  It  is 
said  that  the  state  of  Iowa  could  be  dropped  into 
Oregon  without  any  side  of  it  touching  a  railroad. 

New  railroads  are  now  under  construction  and 
the  future  is  rich  with  promise.  Large  develop- 
ment is  certain.  Irrigation  of  arid  lands  will  open 
large  tracts  of  land  for  settlement,  furnishing  many 
fields  for  missionary  work.  One  county  in  eastern 
Oregon  has  but  two  ministers,  and  several  others 
have  but  one  or  two;  in  some  cases  the  Presby- 
terian denomination  has  not  a  single  representative. 

The  Board  of  Publication  and  Sabbath- School 
Work  has  six  Sunday-school  missionaries  in  this 
large  territory,  besides  an  educational  superinten- 
dent whose  district  includes  also  Idaho  and  Wash- 


THE  PACIFIC  SLOPE 


105 


ington.  This  leaves  five  pioneer  Sunday-school 
v^orkers  to  occupy  the  skirmish  line,  planting  the 
outposts. 

One  of  our  Sunday-school  w^orkers,  vi^hose  field  Ministering 
comprises  nine  large  counties  in  eastern  Oregon,  re-  mote^Pam 
lates  a  pathetic  incident  which  serves  as  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  need  of  Sunday-school  missionaries  in 
these  remote  parts,  and  the  good  that  is  being  ac- 
complished through  their  labors: 

One  evening  last  winter  I  was  called  to  the  long-dis- 
tance telephone  from  a  distant  village,  where  I  had  or- 
ganized a  Sunday  school,  and  this  is  the  message  I  re- 
ceived: "Aneta  died  to-day;  we  want  to  bury  her  on  Sun- 
day. Is  it  too  much  to  ask  you  to  come?"  I  answered 
"I'll  come."  Next  morning  at  six  o'clock  I  was  on  the 
stage,  ready  for  the  long,  cold  ride  of  fifty-five  miles.  It 
was  the  coldest  day  last  winter,  the  thermometer  register- 
ing ten  degrees  below  zero.  The  stage  driver  said,  "Are 
you  compelled  to  take  the  trip  such  a  day  as  this?"  I 
answered,  "Yes ;  one  of  our  little  Sunday-school  girls  died 
yesterday  and  I  am  wanted  for  the  funeral."  He  said,  "It 
seems  to  me  it  is  too  much  to  ask  a  man  to  go  so  far  on 
such  a  cold  day."  I  said,  "It  wouldn't  be  too  much  if  it 
were  my  little  girl."  He  said,  "That's  right."  And  for  a 
long  while  the  horses  seemed  to  engage  his  attention.  The 
next  day  a  large  company  of  friends  and  neighbors  gath- 
ered and  we  buried  Aneta  on  a  sunny  slope  in  the  Blue 
Mountains  overlooking  "Camas  prairie."  There  were  no 
dry  eyes  in  that  company  as  we  looked  on  the  cold,  life- 
less form  of  the  sweet  little  maiden  of  eleven  years  that 
had  gone  from  us  to  be  with  the  Saviour  she  had  learned 
to  love,  and  I  know  of  more  than  one  who  that  day  at 
Aneta's  grave  gave  their  hearts  to  Jesus  and  have  since 
openly  confessed  their  faith  in  him.  The  little  mission 
Sunday  school  is  now  an  organized  church.  Aneta's 
father,  mother,  two  sisters  and  two  brothers,  two  uncles 


I06  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

and  two  aunts  are  members  of  it.  They  have  a  home  mis- 
sionary to  preach  to  them,  baptize  their  children,  marry 
their  young  people  and  bury  their  dead,  and  it  is  no  longer 
necessary  to  send  fifty-five  miles  for  the  Sunday-school 
missionary. 

The  synodical  superintendent  in  Oregon,  Rev. 
James  V.  Milligan,  D.  D.,  is  a  true  pioneer. 
He  has  organized  the  Sunday-school  work,  mis- 
sionary and  educational,  in  that  synod  in  a  most 
efficient  manner.  Not  only  are  the  pioneer  districts 
being  reached  as  far  as  it  is  possible  to  do  so  with 
his  limited  force  of  workers,  but  he  is  also  cooper- 
ating in  the  plans  of  the  educational  superintendent 
who  is  doing  aggressive  work  in  standardizing  the 
schools  throughout  the  synods  of  Oregon,  Wash- 
ington and  Idaho.  Dr.  Milligan  knows  the  needs 
of  every  part  of  the  field,  and  he  is  in  the  front 
rank  of  the  missionary  leaders  on  the  Pacific  slope. 
What  a  blessed  thing  it  is  that  the  Presbyterian 
Church  has  an  agency  through  which  she  can  min- 
ister to  the  spiritual  needs  of  such  as  these.  How 
eagerly  these  people  await  the  coming  of  the  Sun- 
day-school missionary !  Creeds  and  prejudices  are 
forgotten  and  all  rejoice  in  hearing  the  Word  as 
it  falls  from  the  lips  of  this  messenger  of  Christ. 
They  realize  the  difficulty  he  has  experienced  in 
visiting  them;  they  understand  the  hardships  that 
he  is  called  upon  to  endure,  and  they  are  grateful 
to  the  church  that  sends  him  forth  upon  his  mission 
of  love. 
California  Sunday-school   problems  in  the   Synod  of  Cali- 

fornia are.  increasing.     This  synod,  which  is  com- 


1.  Rev.   George  C.   Butterfield. 

2.  Rev.  James  V.   Milligan,   D.D. 

3.  Rev.  W.   O.   Forbes,   D.D. 

4.  The    interior    furnishings    of    many    mission    Sunday-schools    from    whicli 

flourishing  churches  have  grown. 

5.  The  outgrowth   of  Sunday-school  missions   in   a   mining  town. 


THE  PACIFIC  SLOPE 


107 


posed  of  two  states,  California  and  Nevada,  as  large 
as  several  large  eastern  states  combined,  has  a 
variety  of  climate  and  resources  making  it  attractive 
to  people  of  every  nation.  Japanese  and  Hindoos 
are  seeking  here  a  home.  Soon  they  send  for  their 
families  and  friends.  Italians  and  Portuguese  are 
coming  by  thousands  to  live  in  this  land  of  per- 
petual summer.  There  is  a  large  rural  population 
throughout  the  state  which  is  poorly  supplied  with 
religious  privileges.  Throughout  this  vast  terri- 
tory there  are  but  four  Sunday-school  missionaries 
at  work,  and  ripening  fields  are  languishing  for  the 
want  of  consecrated  workers.  It  is  estimated  that 
there  are  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  children 
in  California  who  are  without  an  opportunity  for 
religious  training. 

The  Sunday-school  missionaries  are  doing  their 
utmost  to  overtake  the  need.  In  some  instances,  to 
save  time  and  expense,  and  because  they  find  it  im- 
possible to  respond  to  the  many  demands  for  their 
services,  they  get  into  correspondence  with  the  dis- 
trict school-teacher,  urging  her  to  open  a  Sunday 
school,  supplying  all  the  equipment  needed  free  of 
charge.  One  of  these  teachers,  in  a  remote  moun- 
tain district,  replied: 

This  county  is  a  missionary  field,  a  veritable  wilderness. 
There  is  no  Protestant  church  in  the  county  outside  of 
the  county  seat,  and  the  children  are  growing  up  in  abso- 
lute ignorance  of  Christianity,  under  the  wing  of  the  saloon 
and  gambling  den.  There  is  absolutely  nothing  here  to 
oflfer  the  young  men  by  way  of  recreation  or  diversion.  It 
is    small    wonder    that    we    have    drunkards    and    idlers, 


I08  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

gamblers  and  murderers.  The  children  are  given  nothing 
good  to  ennoble  or  even  occupy  their  minds.  I  have  made 
an  effort  to  teach  the  children  of  my  district  something 
that  would  be  of  real  help  to  them  and  have  stirred  up 
the  hostility  of  my  leading  trustee.  In  the  work  of 
organizing  Sunday  schools  in  this  county,  you  can  count 
on  violent  opposition  on  all  sides.  But  there  are  many 
people  who  wish  religious  training  for  their  children  and 
religious  life  for  themselves. 

There  is  a  great  stretch  of  territory,  sixteen  thou- 
sand five  hundred  and  fifty-six  square  miles  in  area, 
reaching  from  the  Golden  Gate  to  the  Oregon  line, 
with  a  population  of  one  hundred  and  ninety-two 
thousand,  of  which  eighty-four  per  cent  are  in  the 
country  or  villages,  many  of  whom  do  not  know 
who  Jesus  Christ  is. 
The  Need  jn  t^g  q[i  g^d  mining  sections  the  need  of  pioneer 

work  is  equally  pronounced.  A  Sunday-school 
missionary  visiting  among  the  homes  in  this  region 
was  greeted  thus  by  an  anxious  mother : 

I  am  glad  you  were  sent  to  this  valley.  My  boys  and 
girls  are  worse  than  heathen  in  their  opinion  of  God.  I 
have  drifted  to  the  Devil.  I  am  a  "goner,"  but  I  want  the 
children  to  learn  about  God  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
My  Tommy  went  down  last  night  where  you  were  camped, 
with  the  cowboy  and  the  sheepherder,  just  to  learn  about 
God.  All  that  he  hears  from  them  is  swear  words. 
Tommy  will  go  to  Sunday  school,  sir,  and  you  must  teach 
him  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Apostles'  Creed.  May  the 
blessing  of  God  be  upon  your  reverence,  and  upon  the 
schools  and  churches  that  support  you. 

This  is  a  region  in  which  Sunday  desecration 
and  all  the  vices  attendant  upon  the  lawlessness  of 


THE  PACIFIC  SLOPE  109 

mining  camps  must  be  combated.  Shall  we  leave 
the  children  of  these  communities  to  the  poisoning 
influence  of  their  evil  surroundings?  We  cannot, 
by  any  means,  escape  our  responsibility  for  tlieir 
salvation. 

In  this  state  there  should  be  at  least  one  Sunday- 
school  missionary  for  each  presbytery.  The  field 
calls  us  to  a  noble  task,  one  that  is  worthy  of  the 
brain  and  brawn  and  money  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  It  is  a  task  for  the  present  generation.  Shall 
the  call  of  the  perishing  children  pass  unheeded? 

In  Nevada  the  work  has  been  largely  among  the  Nevada 
mining  towns.  The  Presbyterians  have  twice  as 
many  churches  in  Nevada  as  any  other  denomina- 
tion, due  to  the  faithful  labors  of  the  Sunday-school 
missionar}^  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont, 
Massachusetts,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland 
and  Virginia  cover  about  the  same  area  as  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Nevada.  There  is  more  than  enough 
"standing  room"  to  accommodate  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  entire  globe. 

In  one  district  comprising  about  one  fourth  of 
the  state  there  are  sixty-three  public  schools, 
seventy-six  teachers,  one  pastor  and  two  Sunday 
schools,  w^ith  a  total  membership  of  about  one  hun- 
dred. 

At  the  close  of  a  meeting  an  old  gentleman  passed 
the  missionary  in  going  for  his  team  and  said,  'T 
think  none  of  my  children  ever  attended  a  religious 
service  before."  The  missionary  then  said  to  the 
wife  who  stood  by,  "You  will  pardon  me  if  I  ask 
how  old  your  children  are?"     She  said,  "That  one 


velopmeat 


IIO  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

there  is  twenty-one;  these  two  are  twins,  they  are 
nineteen;  that  one  is  sixteen."  So,  for  twenty-one 
years  the  family  had  been  entirely  separated  from 
all  religious  life.  Sometime  later  those  girls  went 
sixty  miles  to  see  a  railroad — for  the  first  time  in 
their  lives. 
Future  De-  Great  irrigation  schemes  are  being  projected  for 
reclaiming  thousands  of  acres  of  arid  waste  in  this 
state  also.  The  eyes  of  thousands  are  turned  toward 
Nevada  as  an  agricultural  region.  Its  development 
in  this  direction  has  already  begun  and  soon  the 
shifting  tide  of  emigration  will  be  moving  toward 
this  land  of  promise,  and  these  desert  regions  will 
give  place  to  beautiful  fields  of  waving  grain  to 
satisfy  the  world's  hunger.  As  they  come  in  to  take 
possession  shall  we  not  meet  them  with  the  open 
Bible  and  provide  Sunday  schools  for  their  chil- 
dren? 

California  Synod  has  its  own  synodical  super- 
intendent of  Sunday-school  work,  Rev.  George 
C.  Butterfield,  who  rendered  splendid  missionary 
service  in  Los  Angeles  Presbytery  for  a  number  of 
years,  and  who,  upon  the  retirement  of  Rev. 
Arthur  Hicks,  the  former  synodical  superintendent, 
was  unanimously  chosen  by  the  synod  to  fill  this 
important  post.  Mr.  Butterfield  is  constantly  im- 
pressing upon  the  Board  the  need  of  additional 
workers.  At  least  one  Sunday-school  missionary 
for  each  presbytery  is  his  earnest  desire.  Indeed  it 
is  a  necessity  if  the  church  intends  to  take  advantage 
of  the  great  missionary  opportunity  to  the  seizing 
of  which  he  is  endeavoring  to  lead  us. 


THE  PACIFIC  SLOPE  III 

On  the  Pacific  Coast  we  have  a  mission  field  equal  Saving  the 
to  that  of  any  other  on  the  globe.  If  these  rapidly  ci,!, 
growing  sections  of  our  country  are  ignored  by  the 
church,  what  of  the  future  of  the  boys  and  girls 
who  are  ripening  into  maturity  without  any  im- 
pulse toward  religious  things?  This  is  a  respon- 
sibility which  we  must  face  regardless  of  creed, 
but  upon  a  broad  Christian  basis.  It  is  a  situation 
which  effects  us  as  a  nation.  If  we  sow  sparingly, 
we  shall  reap  sparingly.  These  citizens  of  to-mor- 
row are  forming  habits  and  ideals  that  will  shape 
their  lives  for  weal  or  woe.  We  must  remember, 
too,  that  they  will  have  their  part  in  shaping  the 
destinies  of  our  national  life.  Mighty  forces  are 
arrayed  against  Christianity  in  this  region,  and  we 
must  be  the  more  earnest  on  that  account.  It  is 
not  a  problem  that  can  be  solved  by  a  Sunday- 
school  missionary  here  and  there;  let  us  rather 
consider  what  can  be  accomplished  by  having  a  suffi- 
cient force  of  Sunday-school  missionaries,  strategi- 
cally located  who  will  be  on  the  ground  to  meet  the 
newcomers  with  the  open  Bible;  men  who  will 
penetrate  these  mountain  fastnesses  and  establish 
mission  Sunday  schools  in  every  mining,  lumber  and 
oil  camp ;  men  impelled  by  the  resistless  force  of 
the  love  and  compassion  of  Christ  whose  will  it  is 
that  not  "one  of  these  little  ones  should  perish." 


THE  NEGRO  PROBLEM 


Those  who  have  not  considered  the  subject  have  little 
idea  of  the  needs  and  opportunities  for  Christian  work  among 
the  negroes  of  the  South. 

We  are  all  ready  to  admit  the  peculiar  claim  this  people 
has  upon  our  sympathy  and  help.  In  the  case  of  every  other 
race  that  came  as  strangers  to  America,  the  action  was  vol- 
untary and  was  prompted  by  a  hope  of  bettering  their  condi- 
tion ;  the  negro  alone  was  forcibly  brought  to  this  country 
and  was  held  in  slavery  for  more  than  two  hundred  years. 
When  he  was  emancipated  some  fifty  years  ago,  he  was  thrown 
upon  his  own  resources  before  he  was  prepared  to  take  care 
of  himself.  For  generations  he  had  depended  upon  others, 
and  he  was  unfitted  by  temperament  and  training  to  stand 
alone  and  shift  for  himself. 

By  slow  degrees  the  negroes  are  adjusting  themselves  to 
the  new  conditions  and  strange  environment.  In  many  places, 
and  in  the  case  of  many  individuals,  remarkable  progress  has 
been  made.  This  may  lead  us  to  hope  that  in  time  the  entire 
race  will  be  lifted  out  of  ignorance  and  poverty,  with  such 
exceptions  as  are  found  in  the  case  of  every  race  and  every 
large  community.  But,  for  the  present,  very  much  remains 
to  be  done,  and  constant  help  must  be  given  to  this  needy 
people. — Alexander  Henry, 


114 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  NEGRO  PROBLEM 

This  is  one  of  the  great  missionary  problems  that 
is  pressing  for  solution.  It  is  a  question  that  must 
be  faced  without  bias  or  race  prejudice,  and  with 
due  allowance  for  the  unfortunate  conditions  from 
which  the  present  situation  has  evolved.  These 
people  are  with  us  to  stay,  and  they  are  becoming 
increasingly  a  factor  in  commercial  and  secular 
affairs. 

We  should  remember  that  the  negro  is  here  by 
compulsion  and  not  by  choice.  It  has  truly  been 
said,  "He  was  stolen  from  his  native  soil,  brought 
here  in  bonds  and  made  a  chattel."  During  the 
years  of  his  freedom  the  negro  has  made  remark- 
able progress.  With  the  increasing  facilities  for 
educating  and  training  the  boys  and  girls  for  citi- 
zenship, the  next  generation  will  show  an  advance 
that  will  amply  repay  those  who  have  given  liberally 
of  their  means  to  provide  these  advantages. 

Not  only  should  we  help  them  in  intellectual 
development,  but  we  should  be  equally  or  more 
aggressive  in  leading  them  out  of  their  spiritual 
darkness  into  tlie  light  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  If 
we  would  make  the  negro  a  useful  citizen  we  must 
not  neglect  the  emphasis  upon  the  religious  side  of 
his  nature.  We  owe  him  a  responsibility  in  these 
things  which  we  cannot  evade. 

I  IS 


ii6 


ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 


Negro 
Statistics 


Edacational 
Opportuni- 
ties 


Nearly  eighty  per  cent  of  the  negro  population 
of  the  United  States  live  in  the  country  districts. 
Mr.  Murphy,  in  "The  Present  South,"  points  out 
that  according  to  latest  statistics  there  were  seven 
hundred  and  thirty-two  thousand  three  hundred 
and  sixty-two  farms  operated  by  negroes  in  the 
South,  and  adds :  "We  find  that  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  southern  negroes  now  own  their 
own  farms,  and  twenty-eight  thousand  more  are  re- 
corded as  part  owners.  The  value  of  the  property 
in  all  the  farms  operated  by  negroes  at  the  South 
was  four  hundred  and  sixty-nine  million  five  hun- 
dred and  six  thousand  five  hundred  and  fifty-five 
dollars."  He  quotes  Booker  Washington  as  saying, 
"Here  is  the  unique  fact,  that  from  a  penniless  popu- 
lation just  out  of  slavery,  three  hundred  and  seventy- 
two  thousand  four  hundred  and  fourteen  owners  of 
homes  have  emerged,  and  of  these  two  hundred 
and  fifty-five  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty-six 
are  known  to  own  their  homes  absolutely  free  of 
encumbrance."  It  is  these  whose  homes  are  in  the 
rural  districts  that  we  are  endeavoring  especially  to 
reach  through  Sunday-school  missions. 

Illiteracy  among  the  negroes  is  about  seven  times 
as  common  as  among  the  whites.  This  is  due  largely 
to  the  meager  educational  advantages  provided  for 
the  southern  negro  children.  An  eminent  writer, 
commenting  upon  this  condition  of  affairs,  says : 

One  half  of  the  negroes  get  no  schooling  whatever. 
Careful  analysis  of  the  reports  of  state  superintendents 
showing  the  attendance  by  grades,  indicates  that  the  aver- 
age child,  whites  and  blacks  together,  who  attends  school 


THE  NEGRO  PROBLEM  117 

at  all  stops  with  the  third  grade.  In  North  Carolina  the 
average  citizen  gets  only  2.6  years ;  in  South  Carolina, 
2.5  years ;  in  Alabama,  2.4  years  of  schooling,  both  private 
and  public.  In  the  whole  South  the  average  citizen  gets 
only  three  years  of  schooling  of  all  kinds  in  his  entire 
life ;  and  what  schooling  it  is !  This  is  the  way  we  are 
educating  these  citizens  of  the  Republic,  the  voters  who 
will  have  to  determine  the  destinies  not  only  of  this  peo- 
ple, but  of  millions  of  others  beyond  the  seas.  But  why 
is  it  that  the  children  get  so  little  education?  Have  we 
no  schools  in  the  country?  Yes,  but  what  kind  of  schools? 
In  these  states,  in  schoolhouses  costing  an  average  of 
$275  each,  under  teachers  receiving  an  average  salary  of 
$25  a  month,  we  have  been  giving  the  children  in  actual 
attendance  five  cents'  worth  of  education  a  day  for  eighty- 
seven  days  only  in  the  year. 

From  these  facts  we  can  appreciate  something 
of  the  conditions  under  which  the  negro  boys  and 
girls  are  growing  into  maturity.  The  president  of 
one  of  the  Presbyterian  schools  in  North  CaroHna, 
in  an  earnest  plea  for  the  Christian  education  of 
the  negro,  writes : 

The  only  sane  thing  to  do  under  present  conditions,  is  Better 
to  prepare  this  great  mass  of  people  for  the  higher  and  Citizenship 
better  type  of  citizenship — a  citizenship  builded  upon 
righteousness,  truth  and  equity,  a  citizenship  that  is  pure 
and  honest,  sober  and  upright.  The  secret  of  such  prepar- 
ation is  Christian  education.  This  utterance  is  not 
prompted  by  any  feeling  of  prejudice,  or  failure  to  recog- 
nize the  value  of  public  and  state  schools,  and  industrial 
training  in  the  uplift  of  the  negro,  but  because  it  is  our 
deepest  conviction  that  intellectual  and  industrial  train- 
ing alone,  unaccompanied  by  Christian  influence,  do  not 
contribute  all  the  elements  essentially  needed  to  produce 
the  highest  type  of  citizenship. 


Il8  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

But  how  shall  they  receive  the  impulse  toward 
these  higher  things?  How  shall  they  be  inspired 
with  the  ambition  for  education,  and  who  shall  open 
their  blinded  eyes  to  see  the  vision  of  hope  and 
promise  which  is  thus  presented  to  them?  Here 
again  the  Sunday-school  missionary  work  of  this 
Board  operates  most  effectively.  Boys  and  girls 
whose  lives  are  being  spent  among  degrading  sur- 
roundings get  a  glimpse,  through  the  mission  Sun- 
day school  of  a  world  of  purer,  better  things  than 
that  to  which  they  have  been  accustomed.  Through 
the  visits  of  the  Sunday-school  missionary  many  of 
them  are  filled  with  the  desire  to  rise  above  their 
lowly  condition  and  to  fit  themselves  for  a  useful 
career. 

According  to  the  last  census  there  are  about  seven 
million  negroes  in  the  states  south  of  the  Potomac 
and  east  of  the  Mississippi.  In  these  states  there 
are  nearly  three  million  negro  children  of  school  age. 
ReHgious  It  is  estimated  that  only  one  in  ten  of  these  chil- 

dren has  the  opportunity  of  religious  instruction. 
A  recent  report  tells  us  that  a  single  county  in 
Georgia,  where  there  are  at  least  twenty  thousand 
negroes,  has  but  one  Sunday  school  and  no  churches 
for  colored  people.  Manifestly  there  is  but  one  way 
to  meet  such  a  deplorable  situation.  Mission  Sun- 
day schools  must  be  established  and  maintained 
among  them.  This  is  the  most  economical  form  of 
evangelization,  and  it  has  the  advantage  of  adapta- 
tion. Moreover,  it  does  not  require  the  services  of 
an  ordained  minister  nor  the  use  of  a  building, 
especially  designed  for  its  purposes.     In  many  a 


Rev.  George  T.   Dillaru,  J).1). 

Sunday  school  organized  and  chapel  erected  by  a  North  Carolina  mis- 
sionary. 

Teacher-training  class  organized  by  Sunday-school  missionary,  William 
H.   Jackson,   in   a   negro  mission   school   in   North   Carolina. 


THE  NEGRO  PROBLEM  II9 

humble  cabin  home  groups  of  negro  children  have 
learned  of  Jesus  and  have  committed  their  lives  to 
him.  From  such  beginnings  many  have  gone  forth 
as  teachers  of  others  of  their  own  race,  and  so  the 
good  seed,  sown  ofttimes  in  tears  and  discourage- 
ment, is  multiplied  an  hundredfold. 

Twelve  colored  Sunday-school  missionaries  are 
organizing  more  than  one  hundred  Sunday  schools 
a  year  among  the  colored  people,  and  are  gathering 
into  them  not  less  than  four  thousand  teachers  and 
pupils. 

The  entire  negro  work  in  eleven  states  in  the 
South  is  being  efficiently  directed  by  Rev.  George 
T.  Dillard,  D.D.,  a  recognized  leader  among  the 
workers  of  all  denominations.  With  rare  discrimi- 
nation, he  selects  workers  who  are  peculiarly  adapted 
to  this  form  of  missionary  service  and  trains  them 
in  their  duties.  He  has  organized  the  work  in  such 
a  way  that  permanent  results  have  followed  the  mis- 
sionary labors  of  his  helpers  in  the  various  fields 
under  his  supervision.  His  influence  counts  heavily 
in  the  development  of  the  church's  plans  for  ad- 
vancement among  these  spiritually  benighted  people. 

Thus  Sunday-school  missions  among  the  negroes  Foundation 
lays  the  foundations  for  the  work  of  the  Freed- 
men's  Board,  in  its  school  work.  Likewise  it  pre- 
pares the  way  for  the  coming  of  the  settled  ministry 
which  also  is  provided  by  that  Board.  Before  a 
Presbyterian  church  can  be  organized  much  pre- 
liminary work  must  be  done.  It  would  be  folly  to 
enter  a  negro  community  and  attempt  at  once  to 
organize  a  church  or  to  establish  a  day  school. 


120  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

It  is  this  foundation  work,  therefore,  that  has 
been  committed  to  the  Sunday- School  Board.  The 
stories  of  destitution  that  come  from  the  Sunday- 
school  missionaries  are  appalling.     Here  is  one : 

I  have  just  organized  a  school  in  one  of  our  famous 
turpentine  districts.  Out  of  more  than  thirty  present  only 
two  girls  and  one  married  woman  could  read.  In  the 
entire  settlement  of  more  than  twenty-five  families,  only 
two  men  can  read.  Our  organization  was  a  success.  We 
met  in  an  empty  "shanty"  with  one  seat,  which  was  made 
by  taking  a  board  out  of  the  floor.  This  was  soon  filled, 
and  others,  old  and  young,  had  to  be  seated  on  the  floor. 
The  anxious  faces  of  the  children,  beside  the  dissipated 
faces  and  blank  expressions  of  the  parents  presented  a 
most  pathetic  contrast.  This  is  a  bad  community ;  they 
drink  and  gamble  and  fight  all  day  Sunday.  They  don't 
take  to  strangers  at  once,  especially  if  they  think  they 
come  to  help  them.  This  sounds  strange,  but  it  is  true. 
I  made  three  visits  before  I  could  get  any  attention  what- 
ever. On  my  fourth  visit  they  flocked  around  me  for 
tracts,  cards  and  papers,  as  if  I  were  distributing  bread  and 
meat  for  their  bodies.  God  went  before  me,  and  the  work 
is  in  his  hands. 

Another  of  these  workers  writes : 

Ignorance  I    went    fifteen    miles    through    the    country    to    Chats- 

and  Desti-  worth,  Georgia,  and  other  sections  of  Murray  County.  My 
purpose  was  to  look  the  field  over  and  organize  a  Sunday 
school  if  the  way  was  clear.  This  section  of  Georgia  is 
considered  unsafe  for  colored  strangers,  but  we  went  in 
God's  name  and  came  out  unharmed.  I  found  the  people 
in  very  poor  circumstances  and  in  great  need  of  Sunday 
school  and  church.  Gathering  the  children  together,  I 
asked  about  Bible  characters.  After  explaining  the  word 
"meek,"  I  asked,  "Who  was  the  meekest  man?"    One  an- 


tution 


THE  NEGRO  PROBLEM  121 

swer  was  "colored  folks."  Several  answers  of  this  kind 
were  given.  When  I  told  them  "Moses,"  they  were  eager 
to  know  where  he  lived.  Some  then  thought  that  I  re- 
ferred to  "Uncle  Moses,"  an  old  man  in  their  community. 

This  missionary  work  is  bearing  fruit,  not  only 
in  changed  lives  but  in  changed  communities.  From 
the  Sunday  schools  organized  by  our  colored  mis- 
sionaries not  less  than  two  hundred  churches  have 
sprung,  three  fourths  of  these  being  Presbyterian. 

This  is  well  worthy  of  note,  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  the  number  of  our  missionaries  in  the  South  is 
so  small.  If  twelve  Sunday-school  missionaries, 
working  at  so  great  a  disadvantage,  could  accom- 
plish so  much,  what  would  be  the  result  if  the 
force  was  largely  increased?  What  could  the 
church  do  better  than  to  enlarge  its  missionary 
efforts  in  behalf  of  these  needy  ones? 

Where,  in  our  land,  is  this  kind  of  work  more 
needed?  Where  would  the  same  investment  of 
money  produce  better  results? 


OBEYING  THE  GREAT  COMMISSION 


The  possibilities  of  Sunday-school  teaching  have  not  been 
reached,  because  the  leadership  of  the  Sunday-school  forces 
is  too  often  conservative,  timorous  and  prejudiced.  This 
situation,  however,  is  rapidly  changing,  for  the  Sunday-school 
leadership  of  the  country  is  taking  advanced  ground  as  to 
the  place  of  the  Sunday  school  in  the  solution  of  all  the  prob- 
lems of  the  church.  The  new  graded  courses  are  built  with 
the  one  distinct  purpose  of  training  a  generation  of  Christians 
for  faithful  and  efficient  service.  This  will  be  a  great  help, 
for  the  essentials  for  building  the  rural  community  are  in  the 
Sunday  school,  which  is  interdenominational.  It  is  an  elastic 
and  an  inexpensive  medium  of  religious  work,  and  its  appeal 
is  to  the  young. — Warren  H.  Wilson. 


124 


CHAPTER  IX 
OBEYING  THE  GREAT  COMMISSION 

A  prominent  secular  journal  is  quoted  as  stating 
that  nearly  seventy  per  cent  of  the  population  of 
the  prairie  states  never  enter  the  door  of  a  church, 
and  that  at  least  one  half  of  the  children  are  with- 
out Sunday-school  instruction. 

In  the  foregoing  chapters  this  has  been  reduced 
to  specific  terms  as  we  have  studied  the  work  of 
Sunday-school  missions  in  operation  on  the  field. 

Let  us  recapitulate.     Tliis  is  home  missions  in  its   Home 

,.,  -r-r..  .,..  -  ,  Missions 

highest  sense.  Yet  it  is  quite  distinct  from  home 
missions  as  the  term  is  understood  by  our  Home 
Mission  Board.  It  is  the  business  of  that  Board  to 
organize  Presbyterian  churches  and  to  aid  in  the 
support  of  settled  pastors  for  them  until  they  be- 
come self-supporting.  The  work  must  of  a  neces- 
sity be  denominational  in  character.  Sunday-school 
missions  includes  all  the  work  preliminary  to  the 
organization  of  a  church ;  the  visitation  from  house 
to  house,  disarming  opposition ;  the  establishing  of 
a  Sunday  school ;  the  selection  and  training  of 
workers  for  officers  and  teachers ;  holding  evan- 
gelistic services,  and  gathering  a  nucleus  of  con- 
verts for  a  church  organization  in  cases  where  the 
community  warrants  such  an  organization. 

The  tendency  of  the  Sunday  school  to  develop 
into  the  church  is  largely  due  to  the  reflex  influence 

125 


126  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

which  the  school  exerts  upon  the  community  in 
which  it  has  been  planted.  When  a  Sunday-school 
missionary  sets  about  organizing  a  school  he  searches 
for  officers  and  teachers.  His  call  often  arouses 
persons,  who,  in  former  homes,  have  confessed 
Christ,  but  who,  in  a  new  neighborhood,  destitute 
of  churches,  have  relapsed  by  degrees  into  indif- 
ference. The  Sunday  school  gives  to  such  persons 
Christian  work  to  do,  and  a  common  center  of 
effort.  It  promotes  among  them  Christian  fellow- 
ship, and  quickens  their  perception  of  Christian  duty. 
It  brings  them  to  a  new  realization  of  the  value  of 
a  church  home,  and  of  the  ordinances  of  the  Lord's 
house.  These  things  all  tend  strongly  toward  church 
organization  and  the  establishment  of  the  stated  min- 
istration of  the  gospel. 
On  a  Broad  It  should  be  remembered  that  while  much  of  the 
Catholic         work  of  Sunday-school  missions  results  in  Presby- 

Basis  .  ,  ,  .  ,1  , 

terian  churches,  it  nevertheless  operates  upon  the 
broad  evangelical  basis  of  providing  the  oppor- 
tunity of  religious  teaching  to  every  boy  and  girl 
who  is  without  it ;  to  nurture  and  develop  the  mis- 
sion Sunday  schools  thus  organized  to  their  highest 
possible  efficiency  and  influence,  irrespective  of  de- 
nominational outcome.  It  is  a  fact  that  cannot  be 
gainsaid,  that  the  church  that  cares  for  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  the  people  in  the  day  of  small  things  is 
the  church  to  which  they  will  cling  in  their  days 
of  prosperity.  The  boys  and  girls  who  go  out  of 
the  little  "Bible"  school  organized  by  a  Presby- 
terian Sunday-school  missionary,  on  the  prairie  to 
begin  their  career  of  business  life  in  the  city,  will 


OBEYING  THE  GREAT  COMMISSION 


127 


almost  invariably  seek  out  a  Presbyterian  Sunday 
school.  When  the  time  is  ripe  for  the  organization 
o£  a  church  in  one  of  these  little  communities,  the 
fact  that  the  Sunday-school  missionary  who  has 
been  caring  for  their  religious  welfare  is  a  Presby- 
terian, weighs  heavily  in  favor  of  a  Presbyterian 
organization,  though  the  majority  may  have  had 
a  predilection  in  favor  of  the  Methodist,  Baptist  or 
some  other  church. 

The  success  of  this  work  is  largely  due  to  the 
fact  that  it  enters  a  community  with  no  other  pur- 
pose than  that  of  the  Great  Commission.  In  this, 
Sunday-school  missions  occupies  a  unique  position 
among  the  missionary  forces  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury church.  It  can  go  where  others  would  be 
denied.  Its  plea  is  for  the  study  of  the  Word.  It 
is  one  of  the  broadest  missionary  agencies  of  mod- 
em times. 

One  godly  man  or  woman  is  enough  to  begin  its  Wmmng 
work,  and  a  half-dozen  children  furnish  a  sufficient 
nucleus  for  a  promising  organization.  The  Sun- 
day school  arouses  less  antagonism  in  an  irreligious 
community  than  any  other  form  of  Christian  work. 
Indifferent  parents  seldom  object  to  their  children 
being  helped  in  a  way  that  gives  no  trouble  to  them- 
selves. It  appeals  to  children,  because  the  child  is 
naturally  more  reverent  and  more  teachable  than 
the  man,  and  more  susceptible  to  the  awakening 
touch  oi  personal  influence.  A  kind  teacher  finds 
ready  access  to  the  heart  of  a  child.  The  child 
finds  in  the  Sunday  school  new  objects  of  interest 
and  thought,  and  is  refreshed  by  contact  with  those 


128  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 

whose    concern    for    his    welfare   he    knows   to   be 
genuine. 

Having  estabUshed  tliese  principles,  and  their  ef- 
fectiveness having  been  demonstrated,  is  not  the 
time  ripe  for  a  forward  movement  on  the  part  of 
the  church  is  behalf  of  the  children  of  America? 

The  motive,  after  all,  which  must  move  the  church, 
is  not  proportionate  giving  nor  systematic  giving.  It  is 
not  incited  by  mere  duty  nor  the  needs  of  others.  These 
are  all  important  and  would  be  sufficient  if  there  were 
not  a  greater;  but  overshadowing  and  including  all  these 
is  the  desire  and  direct  command  of  Jesus,  "As  the  Father 
hath  sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you."  This  command  is 
personal  and  complete.  In  one  way  or  another  we  are 
asked  to  invest  self.  The  nature  and  extent  of  that  in- 
vestment is  seen  in  the  manner  God  sent  Jesus  into  the 
world.  Note  the  "as"  and  "so"  of  the  commandment.  The 
second  equals  the  first.^ 

The  Call  of  We  know  the  need ;  it  is  at  our  very  doors,  and 
Te^acher'"  ^^^  cauuot  cscapc  it  if  wc  would.  The  vision  of 
Jesus  who  calls  us  to  this  service  is  before  us.  We 
see  him  as  he  sets  a  little  child  in  the  midst  of  his 
disciples,  and  says,  "It  is  not  the  will  of  your  Father 
who  is  in  heaven,  that  one  of  these  little  ones 
should  perish."  Again,  we  see  him  as  he  places  his 
hands  upon  the  heads  of  the  little  ones,  blessing 
them  and  saying,  "Suffer  the  little  children  to  come 
unto  me;  forbid  them  not."  We  hear  him  as  he 
stands  with  his  disciple,  by  the  seaside,  saying, 
"Feed  my  lambs,"  and  his  parting  words,  "Go 
teach."     Shall  we  not  obey?     The  opportunity  is 


1  Ward  Piatt. 


OBEYING  THE  GREAT  COMMISSION       129 

here.  A  thousand  dollars  invested  in  pioneer  work 
now  will  accomplish  more  than  ten  times  that  sum, 
given  a  few  years  hence,  when  sO'  many  will  have 
passed  on  into  lives  from  which  they  may  never  be 
rescued.  From  the  standpoint  of  economy  is  it 
not  far  wiser  to  invest  our  dollars  in  giving  Sun- 
day-school training  to  America's  boys  and  girls 
than  to  spend  our  thousands  for  institutions  to 
reform  broken  manhood  and  womanhood?  Horace 
Mann  once  said,  "One  fonnatory  is  worth  a  thou- 
sand reformatories."  We  are  beginning  to  learn 
the  wisdom  of  spending  money  to  help  in  making 
certain  conditions  impossible,  rather  than  to  con- 
tinue simply  to  alleviate  the  pain  and  suffering  which 
they  produce.  We  must  attack  the  root  of  our  na- 
tional sins  and  vices  by  the  right  training  of  our 
boys  and  girls. 

A  Sunday-school  missionary  in  the  course  of  a  Economy 
year  will  gather  from  five  hundred  to  a  thousand 
children  into  Sunday  school,  and  set  from  fifty  to 
one  hundred  persons  to  work  teaching  them,  at  a 
total  outlay  of  a  thousand  dollars.  There  is  no 
more  economical  form  of  evangelization  known  to 
the  church.  Instead  of  a  force  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  Sunday-school  missionaries,  why  not  a 
thousand  ?  God  speed  the  day  when  those  to  whom 
he  has  committed  the  means  shall  place  their  treas- 
ures at  his  service  in  this  cause,  thus  hastening  the 
coming  of  the  kingdom. 


APPENDIXES 
APPENDIX  A 

QuESTIOiNS    FOR    StUDY    ClASSES 

It  is  entirely  optional  with  the  leader  of  the  class  to 
use  these  questions  or  to  substitute  others.  Some  study 
class  leaders  prefer  to  prepare  their  own  questions.  These 
are  submitted  with  the  idea  of  being  helpful,  by  way  of 
suggestion,  or  for  such  use  as  may  be  found  desirable  in 
conformity  with  the  method  of  teaching  in  vogue  in  each 
class. 

Questions  on  Chapter  I 

1.  For  how  many  years  were  Sunday-school  missions  in 
operation  before  the  Presbyterian  denomination  entered 
upon  the  work? 

2.  Name  some  of  the  circumstances  which  led  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  to  organize  this  work  under  its  own 
supervision. 

3.  State  some  of  the  advantages  gained  through  denomi- 
national Sunday-school  work. 

4.  To  what  class  of  Christian  workers  did  this  new 
work  appeal,  and  why  were  they  especially  qualified  for  it? 

5.  Name  two  distinctive  principles  of  Sunday-school  mis- 
sionary work. 

6.  What  are  some  of  the  reasons  that  led  the  General 
Assembly  to  commit  this  work  to  the  care  of  the  Board  of 
Publication  and   Sabbath-School  Work? 

7.  What  is  the  place  of  the  Sunday-school  missionary  in 
relation  to  the  work  of  the  Home  Mission  Board? 

8.  Describe  the  pioneer  character  of  Sunday-school  mis- 
sions. 

9.  How   is   this   work  supervised   on  the   field? 

10.  Is  there  any  waste  in  Sunday-school  missions?    Why? 

Questions  on  Chapter  II 

1.  What  is  the  extent  of  the  field  of  Sunday-school  mis- 
sions ? 

2.  Toward  whose  religious  welfare  are  these  labors  par- 
ticularly directed,  and  why? 

131      .. 


132  APPENDIX  A 

3.  Give  some  reasons  for  missionary  efforts  in  behalf  of 
children. 

4.  State  three  facts  concerning  religious  conditions  in 
different  parts  of  the  country  which  show  the  need  of 
this  work. 

_  5.  Why    does    the    Presbyterian    Church    owe    a    respon- 
sibility for  the  religious  training  of  the  young? 

6.  Name  two  advantages  which  this  form  of  evangeli- 
zation possesses,  especially  in  newly  settled  sections. 

7.  State  the  value  of  the  little  Sunday  school  in  the 
moral  reconstruction  of  a  community. 

8.  What  are  some  of  the  ways  in  which  the  mission 
Sunday  school  can  be  the  center  of  the  social  life  of  the 
country  settlement? 

9.  What  is  educational  Sunday-school  work? 

10.  What  are  some  of  the  duties  of  an  educational 
superintendent   of    Sunday-school   work? 

11.  How  is  this  work  meeting  a  crying  need  in  bringing 
our  Sunday  schools  up  to  a  higher  standard  of  work? 

Questions  on  Chapter  III 

1.  Name  the  northern  prairie  states. 

2.  Give  three  facts  concerning  the  development  of  Sun- 
day-school missions  in  that  region. 

3.  State,  by  means  of  an  illustration,  how  individual 
lives  and  communities  have  been  transformed  through  the 
influence  of  the  mission  Sunday  school. 

4.  Give  two  facts  concerning  the  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  the  Dakotas. 

5.  Describe  the  arrival  of  the  homesteader. 

6.  How  have  the  ministrations  of  the  Sunday-school  mis- 
sionary been  of  value  to  the  homesteader? 

7.  How  is  the  mission  Sunday  school  with  no  prospect 
of  development  into  a  church  a  means  of  evangelization? 

8.  Wliat  is  the  effect  upon  our  church  and  national  life 
of  the  religious  training  of  the  boys  and  girls  in  the  coun- 
try district?     How  does  it  influence  the  city? 

9.  How  does  this  work  help  in  developing  Christian 
■workers  ? 

10.  Should  the  support  of  this  work  be  left  to  the 
Sunday  schools  exclusively?     Give  reasons. 

Questions  on  Chapter  IV 

1.  To  what  states  does  this  chapter  refer? 

2.  How  has  the  work  of  Sunday-school  missions  helped 
other  benevolent  causes? 


APPENDIX  A  133 

3.  Tell  something  about  the  method  pursued  by  the 
Sunday-school  missionary  in  beginning  his  work  in  a  new 
community. 

4.  What  part  of  Kansas  is  in  special  need  of  missionary 
work,  and  why? 

5.  Give  a  few  facts  concerning  the  religious  conditions 
in  Missouri. 

6.  How  has  the  Sunday-school  missionary  kept  pace  with 
the  development  of  the  cities  in  this  region? 

7.  Describe  the  character  of  many  of  the  homes  found 
by  missionaries  in  this  part  of  the  West. 

8.  Wliat  particular  phases  of  Sunday-school  missions  are 
emphasized  in  Indiana,  Michigan  and  Ohio  synods? 

9.  Should  a  synod  aim  to  achieve  self-support  in  Sunday- 
school  missions,  and  why? 

Questions  on  Chapter  V 

1.  Give  a  few  facts  concerning  the  physical  development 
of  this  region. 

2.  What  has  influenced  the  commercial  growth  of  these 
states  ? 

3.  How  can  the  young  people  of  a  city  church  help  m 
Sunday-school   missionary   work? 

4.  Give  an  instance  where  a  mission  Sunday  school  has 
been  the  means  of  supplying  workers  for  the  foreign  field. 

5.  What  can  you  say  about  the  material  resources  of 
Wyoming? 

6.  Why  should  the  church  send  its  _  Sunday-school  mis- 
sionaries in  larger  force  into  these  regions? 

7.  Tell  how  the  mission  Sunday-school  develops  church 
organizations  in  this  region.     Illustrate. 

8.  What  proportion  of  Utah's  population  is  Mormon? 

9.  How  can  Sunday-school  missionary  work  check  the 
spread   of  Mormonism? 

10.  Why  is  the  Sunday  school  the  best  means  of  gam- 
ing an  entrance  into  Mormon  communities? 

Questions  on  Chapter  VI 

1.  Who  are  the  mountaineers? 

2.  Describe  the  conditions  of  living  in  the  back  moun- 
tain counties.  .  . 

3.  How  is  the  Sunday  school  adapted  to  meet  the  spirit- 
ual needs  of  these  people? 

4.  Illustrate  how  the  mission  Sunday  school  has  trans- 
formed many  mountain  homes. 


134  APPENDIX  A 

5.  Who  was  the  pioneer  missionary  who  opened  this 
field  to  the  Presbyterian  Church?  Give  some  facts  about 
his  work. 

6.  What  states  comprise  the  "New  Southwest"? 

7.  Give  some  facts  about  the  development  of  Oklahoma 
and  Texas. 

8.  Wliat  are  the  religious  conditions  in  these  states? 

9.  What  is  the  most  effective  method  of  winning  this 
section  for  the  kingdom? 

10.  Describe  the  work  of  a  Sunday-school  missionary 
in  the  mining  camps  of  Arizona. 

11.  What  special  need  for  this  work  grew  out  of  the 
union  with  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  ? 

Questions  on  Chapter  VII 

1.  How  has  Sunday-school  missionary  work  kept  pace 
with  the  development  of  the  cities  on  the  Pacific  slope? 
Name  an  instance  of  results. 

2.  What  can  you  say  about  the  development  of  Wash- 
ington during  a  decade? 

3.  What  would  be  the  condition  of  new  communities  in 
these  regions  without  Sunday  schools?  Would  they  be 
desirable  places  in  which  to  live? 

4.  Wliy  has  not  Oregon  kept  pace  with  the  rapid  growth 
of  her  sister  states? 

5.  Give  an  idea  of  the  extent  of  this  region  and  the 
difficulties  it  presents  in  missionary  work. 

6.  Tell  how  the  Sunday-school  missionary  is  called  upon 
to  perform  pastoral  functions  in  these  neglected  places, 
and  some  results. 

7.  How  many  children  in  California  are  estimated  as 
being  outside  of  all   Sunday  schools? 

8.  What  special  reason  is  there  for  pushing  this  work 
aggressively  in  the  mining  camps? 

9.  What  is  the  outlook  for  the  future  of  this  region  ? 

10.  Why  is  it  a  field  in  which  foundation  work  is  needed 
now? 

Questions  on  Chapter  VIII 

1.  Why  should  the  negro  be  the  object  of  our  special 
interest? 

2.  Is  it  sufficient  to  develop  the  negro  intellectually  and 
industrially?     Why? 

3.  Give  a  few  facts  showing  the  progress  of  the  negro 
during  fifty  years. 

4.  What  can  you  say  about  the  educational  facilities 
provided  for  the  negro? 


APPENDIX  A  135 

5.  How  can  the  Sunday-school  minister  to  the  negro's 
needs? 

6.  What  is  the  relation  of  the  negro  Sunday-school 
missionary  to  the  work  of  the  Freedmen's  Board? 

7.  Why  could  not  the  organized  church  be  introduced 
into  negro  communities  without  the  aid  of  the  Sunday 
school ? 

Questions  on  Chapter  IX 

1.  How  do  we  obey  the  "Great  Commission"  in  Sun- 
day-school missions? 

2.  What  is  the  distinction  between  Sunday-school  mis- 
sions and  the  work  of  other  agencies. 

3.  By  what  process  does  the  church  usually  develop  from 
the   mission   Sunday   school? 

4.  What  can  you  say  as  to  the  catholicity  of  this  work? 
How  has  this  operated  in  making  the  work  fruitful  ? 

5.  Why  can  the  Sunday  school  be  organized  where  the 
church  would  be  excluded? 

6.  How  many  persons  will  the  average  Sunday-school 
missionary  gather  into  Sunday  schools  in  the  course  of  a 
year? 

7.  Why   is    prevention  better   than   reformation? 

8.  What  are  the  highest  motives  inspiring  us  to  go 
forward  in  this  work? 


APPENDIX  B 

Reference  Literature 

Our   Country    Strong 

Leavening  the  Nation Clark 

The  Frontier   Piatt 

The  Church  of  the  Open  Country Wilson 

Aliens  or  Americans  ? Grose 

Our  People  of  Foreign  Speech McLanahan 

Free  leaflets  containing  descriptions  of  the  work  of 
Sunday-school  missions  in  various  fields,  illustrations  and 
incidents  from  the  experiences  of  Sunday-school  mission- 
aries, field  letters  from  different  workers,  reports,  etc., 
and  stereopticon  lectures,  with  slides,  are  always  available 
at  the  offices  of  the  Sabbath-School  and  Missionary  De- 
partment of  the  Board,  412  Witherspoon  Building. 

Special  Days 

It  should  be  remembered  that  Children's  Day,  the  second 
Sunday  in  June,  has  been  set  aside  by  the  General  As- 
sembly as  the  day  upon  which  Sunday  schools  should  take 
an  offering  for  Sunday-school  missionary  work.  These 
offerings  in  the  past  have  provided  the  greater  part  of  the 
income  necessary  to  support  this  work. 

On  Rally  Day,  usually  observed  on  the  last  Sunday  in 
September,  the  General  Assembly  recommends  that  Sun- 
day schools  take  an  offering  for  the  special  work  which 
is  being  carried  on  by  the  Sunday-School  Board  among 
immigrants  in  America. 

Appropriate  exercises  are  furnished  free  of  charge  for 
use  on  Children's  Day  and  Rally  Day,  with  interesting 
descriptive  matter  regarding  the  cause  to  which  gifts 
are  applied  and  unique  receptacles  for  gathering  offer- 
ings. 

It  should  be  a  part  of  the  yearly  program  of  every  Sun- 
day school  to  observe  these  special  days  in  the  manner 
designated  by  the  General  Assembly. 

136 


APPENDIX  B  137 

What  Money  Will  Do  in  Sunday-School 

Missions 

A  Sunday-school  missionary  can  be  supported  for  $800 
or  $1,000  per  year,  according  to  the  location  of  the  field 
to  which  he  is  assigned. 

$500  a  year  will  support  a  colporteur  among  our  immi- 
grant population. 

$25.00  will  establish  a  mission  Sunday  school  in  some 
needy  community. 

$15.00  will  provide  a  library  for  a  mission  Sunday 
school. 

$10.00  will  provide  a  Bible  for  every  pupil  in  one  of 
our  mission  schools. 

$1.00  will  bring  a  child  into  the  Sunday  school,  or  if 
used  in  our  work  among  foreigners,  it  will  send  one  of  our 
weekly  papers  in  foreign  languages  for  a  year  to  the  home 
of  ah  immigrant  family. 

Providing  for  the  Future 

There  are  many  people  who  have  felt  that  they  would 
like  to  have  a  larger  share  in  the  various  missionary  en- 
terprises that  are  carried  on  by  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
but  who  cannot  see  their  way  clear  to  contribute,  in  view 
of  many  other  demands   upon  their  means. 

Others  may  be  contributing  a  stated  amount  each  year, 
and  would  be  glad  to  have  this  continued  indefinitely. 

To  such,  we  would  suggest  the  plan  of  bequeathing  a 
specific  sum,  the  interest  of  which  could  be  used  in  car- 
rying on  the  work  perpetually.  The  possibilities  of  this 
plan  are  very  broad.  For  example,  a  bequest  of  $15,000 
will  provide  an  income  sufficient  to  support  a  missionary 
permanently,  -who  would  be  going  about  spreading  the 
gospel  in  the  newly  settled  parts  of  our  land.  The  inter- 
est on  smaller  amounts  will  give  the  testator  a  propor- 
tionate share  in  the  support  of  a  missionary  in  the  same 
manner. 

Therefore,  we  invite  those  who  are  interested,  to  con- 
sider this  plan  of  having  a  share,  perpetually,  in  this  far- 
reaching  work. 

Bequests  for  this  purpose  should  be  made  to  "The 
Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication  and 
Sabbath-School  Work." 


APPENDIX  C 

The  Foreign  Mission  Work  of  the  Sunday- 
School  Board 

Since  the  missionary  work  of  the  Board  of  Publication 
and  Sabbath-School  Work  among  foreigners  in  the  United 
States  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  an  important  feature 
of  its  activities,  it  deserves  special  mention  in  this  survey 
of  the  iield-  of  the  Board's  operations. 

Many  years  ago  the  Board  published  a  number  of  tracts 
and  booklets  in  French,  German,  Spanish  and  Portuguese 
to  meet  the  requirements  of  missionaries  in  countries 
where  those  languages  are  spoken.  These  publications  are 
still  in  demand  and  are  valuable  in  supplementing  the  work 
of  the  missionaries  of  the  Home  and  Foreign  Mission 
Boards  of  our  church.  For  a  number  of  years  the  Board 
published  a  Sunday-school  lesson  leaf  in  the  German  lan- 
guage, which  later  was  taken  over  by  a  group  of  German 
Presbyterians  who  established  a  publishing  house  of  their 
own  in  Dubuque,  Iowa.  Here  various  Sunday-school  and 
church  periodicals  are  printed  and  circulated  among  the 
German  speaking  congregations.  The  Board  also  aided, 
for  several  years,  in  the  publication  of  a  Bohemian  Sun- 
day-school story  paper  which  was  eagerly  read  by  the 
Bohemians  who  had  been  gathered  into  mission  schools 
and   churches    in   different  parts   of  our  own   land. 

The  character  of  the  immigration  coming  to  our  shores 
during  these  years  was  such  that  this  attempt  to  provide 
for  the  people  of  foreign  speech,  feeble  though  it  may 
seem,  met  the  requirement.  But  with  the  opening  of  the 
new  century  a  great  change  took  place  and  the  heart  of  the 
church  was  stirred  as  never  before  as  we  were  brought 
face  to  face  with  a  new  missionary  problem,  stupendous 
in  its  proportions,  baffling  in  its  strangeness,  but  most  in- 
viting in  its  promise  of  results  for  the  kingdom.  Within 
a  few  years  the  old  immigration  from  northern  Europe 
had  begun  to  ebb,  and  in  our  unpreparedness  we  were  con- 
fronted by  a  mighty  flood  of  newcomers  from  southern 
Europe — a  class  about  whose  characteristics  we  knew  lit- 
tle, but  whom  we  had  learned  to  look  upon  as  "unde- 
sirable."   Onward  they  came,  at  the  rate  of  more  than  a 

138 


APPENDIX  C 


139 


million  a  year,  transplanting  their  alien  ideals  and  supersti- 
tions to  American  soil  and  fostering,  in  their  Little  Italys 
and  Little  Russias,  veritable  hotbeds  of  crime.  When 
William  McKinley  was  shot  down  by  one  of  this  class 
the  entire  nation  cried  out  against  the  lax  laws  which 
permitted  such  aliens  to  lind  a  home  in  this  fair  land  of 
ours.  The  church  looked  at  the  matter  from  a  different 
viewpoint.  Was  not  the  hand  of  God  in  this  mighty  sweep 
of  alien  peoples  westward?  Was  it  not  God's  way  of 
bringing  them  out  of  the  darkness  of  superstition  which 
for  centuries  had  enveloped  them?  Was  not  God  re- 
viving the  missionary  interest  and  zeal  of  the  church  by 
setting  before  them  this  great  task? 

The  church  accepted  the  challenge,  seeing  its  oppor- 
tunity to  accomplish  a  mighty  work  of  evangelization,  and 
in  1903  the  General  Assembly  called  upon  the  Board  to 
undertake  its  share  of  this  work. 

In  equipping  herself  for  this  new  work  a  great  diffi- 
culty presented  itself  in  the  lack  of  trained  workers  to 
take  the  ministry  of  the  Word  to  the  immigrants  in  their 
own  tongue.  Groups  of  foreigners  might  be  gathered 
into  missions,  but  who  could  teach  them?  They  came 
from  countries  where  Protestantism  was  unpopular. 
Nearly  all  were  nominally  Catholics,  though  few  were 
faithful  even  to  that  religion.  Something  preliminary 
must  be  done.  The  foreigners,  amid  new  and  strange  sur- 
roundings could  only  be  brought  successfully  under  gospel 
influences  by  careful,  tactful  work  on  the  part  of  one  of 
their  own  countrymen,  visiting  them  at  their  work  during 
the  noon  hour,  or  in  the  evening  in  their  humble  shacks, 
conversing  with  them  about  the  truths  of  the  Protestant 
faith ;  revealing  to  them  the  riches  of  the  Word,  reading 
choice  passages  to  them,  answering  their  questions,  dis- 
pelling their  doubts,  and  leading  them  unto  Him  who  is 
"the  light  that  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world."  Such  work  did  not  require  ordained  ministers, 
and  it  was  decided  that  the  colportage  plan  would  here  be 
found  effectual. 

The  colporteur — who  would  be  better  called  by  the  name 
in  use  among  the  Germans,  "Bible  messenger" — takes  his 
title  from  his  pack ;  as  the  public  sees  him  he  is  more  of 
a  peddler  than  a  preacher. 

In  his  guise  of  peddler  the  colporteur  comes  into  inti- 
mate and  informal  touch  with  the  people.  He  meets  them 
on  their  own  doorsteps,  and  they  have  no  social  prejudices 
against  enjoying  a  chat  with  "this  interesting  vendor  of 
books.  Speaking  the  tongue  of  those  he  visits,  he  finds  a 
double  welcome  on  that  account.  When  he  opens  his  pack 
10 


140  APPENDIX  C 

and  begins  to  read,  in  the  speech  of  the  homeland,  choice 
passages  from  the  Scriptures,  is  it  any  wonder  that  he 
usually  gets  an  interested  hearing  and  often  finds  pur- 
chasers? 

The  benefits  that  follow  the  distribution  of  the  written 
Word  are  manifest.  It  comes  to  foreigners,  often  home- 
sick, in  the  familiar  speech  of  the  land  of  their  birth. 
Many  who  receive  the  printed  page  from  the  colporteur 
have  no  other  literature  in  their  own  tongue,  and  so  give 
it   heartier   welcome. 

The  inexpensiveness  of  colportage  work  appeals  to  the 
person  who  desires  to  see  the  money  he  gives  to  missions 
go  as  far  as  possible.  It  is  possible  to  equip  and  main- 
tain a  colporteur  at  a  less  expense  than  is  required  for 
any  other  form  of  Christian  worker,  excepting  only  the 
native  helpers  on  the  foreign  field — who  are  in  reality 
colporteurs. 

During  a  single  year  twenty-two  such  workers,  each 
laboring  for  periods  varying  from  three  to  twelve  months, 
visited  thirty-six  thousand  families  of  foreigners,  distrib- 
uted three  thousand  seven  hundred  copies  of  the  Scriptures 
by  sale  and  gift  besides  sixty-eight  thousand  pages  of 
evangelistic  tracts  and  eight  thousand,  eight  hundred  re- 
ligious books.  Think  of  the  influence  of  such  work !  The 
value  of  the  printed  page,  carrying  its  silent,  though  not 
less  forceful,  message  of  truth  cannot  be  measured.  So 
successful  has  this  work  been  eventuating  in  many  cases 
in  flourishing  Presbyterian  churches,  that  it  is  laid  upon 
the  heart  of  the  church  to-day  as  a  missionary  agency  that 
ought  to  be  greatly  enlarged.  Every  city  in  our  land 
ought  to  have  its  colporteurs  visiting  constantly  among 
the  various  foreign  peoples.  They  should  be  found  at  the 
immigrant  landing  stations,  in  the  coal  mining  regions, 
and  in  the  agricultural  districts  in  some  of  our  states 
where  they  have  taken  small  farms.  Thus  can  we  lay 
the  foundations  for  permanent  missionary  work  among 
them.  In  this  work  we  again  see  the  Board  operating 
in  its  capacity  as  the  pioneer,  opening  the  way  for  the 
settled   ministry. 

As  a  development  of  this  method  of  evangelizing  the 
foreigner,  the  Board  began  in  1906  the  publication  of  a 
weekly  religious  paper  in  the  Bohemian  language.  This 
paper  has  been  well  received;  its  circulation  has  reached 
three  thousand  copies  weekly.  The  success  of  this  en- 
terprise, not  from  a  financial  viewpoint,  but  as  a  missionary 
effort,  opened  the  way  for  an  enlargement  of  this  phase  of 
the  work,  and  a  Hungarian  (MagA'ar)  weekly  paper  was 
added;  then  a  Ruthenian  paper  and  later,  one  for  Italians. 


APPENDIX  C  141 

The  combined  circulation  of  these  papers  is  about  ten 
thousand,  reaching  according  to  the  usual  way  of  estimat- 
ing about  lift}'  thousand  foreigners  each  week.  These 
papers  are  religious,  every  issue  presenting  the  gospel  in 
sermon,  Sunday-school  lesson,  or  a  story,  besides  brief 
items  of  news  from  the  homeland.  Copies  of  these  papers 
are  worn  almost  to  rags  from  passing  through  the  hands 
of  so  many.  This  is  the  only  practicable — and  at  the  same 
time  the  most  economical  way  of  reaching  the  adult 
foreigners  scattered  here  and  there  who  will  never  learn 
our  language.  Moreover  it  strengthens  the  faith  of  those 
who  have  professed  conversion  as  well  as  helping  those 
who  are  yet  inquirers  to  find  the  way  of  life. 

Besides  these  weekly  papers  the  Board  publishes  Bible 
picture  cards  similar  to  those  used  in  the  primary  grades 
of  our  American  Sunday  schools,  to  the  number  of  four- 
teen thousand  weekly.  On  the  back  of  each  picture  the 
Bible  story  is  printed  in  a  foreign  tongue.  These  cards 
are  now  being  printed  in  six  different  languages,  Polish, 
Spanish,  Italian,  Bohemian,  Hungarian  and  Ruthenian. 
Often  the  card  is  the  entering  wedge  for  the  colporteur 
in  places  where  he  might  otherwise  be  denied  admittance. 
It  introduces  his  message,  and  secures  him  a  ready  listener. 

This  is  a  work  the  results  of  which  may  not  be  so  easily 
computed  as  those  of  other  forms  of  missionary  effort,  and 
here  again,  we  sow  in  faith,  leaving  the  harvest  with  Him 
who  never  fails,  whose  word  and  promises  are  sure.  In 
scores  of  cases  the  message  of  our  weekly  papers  has  been 
the  means  of  leading  souls  to  Christ.  When  one  has 
fovmd  Christ  he  invariably  tries  to  win  the  other  mem- 
bers of  his  family  or  his  friends.  In  this  many  of  the 
foreigners  put  us  to  shame  for  the  concealment  of  our 
faith. 

It  has  been  declared  that  there  is  scarcely  a  community 
in  Europe  the  life  of  whose  common  people  has  not  been 
affected  and  in  some  cases  revolutionized  by  American  in- 
fluences, infused  by  those  who  have  returned  after  a  so- 
journ in  America.  In  some  cases  the  change  has  come 
through  correspondence  with  relatives  that  have  come  to 
America  and  remained  here.  This  gives  us  an  idea  of  the 
far-reaching  influences  of  our  efforts  to  evangelize  the 
foreigner.  Every  foreigner  won  for  Christ  becomes  a 
missionary  among  his  own  family ;  or  to  his  native  village 
in  some  part  of  Europe. 

This  work  for  foreigners  does  not  stand  alone.  It  is 
related  to  our  own  church  life  and  to  the  entire  missionary 
enterprise.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  foreign  missions.  The 
strangers   whom  we   reach   without  going  outside   of  our 


142  APPENDIX  C 

own  neighborhood  in  turn  reach  the  peoples  across  the 
sea,  to  whom  they  are  bound  by  closest  ties.  So  intimate 
is  this  relation  between  our  country  and  the  ends  of  the 
earth  that  the  cry  has  become  common :  "Save  America 
for  the  world's  sake."  Let  a  stranger  in  our  midst  be 
won  by  the  gospel,  and  we  may  be  sure  that  the  tidings, 
and  perhaps,  also,  the  printed  Word,  will  soon  be  speeding 
across  the  ocean. 

The  preservation  of  America  as,  in  the  highest  sense, 
a  Christian  nation,  depends  upon  the  evangelization  of 
our  foreign-born  population.  This  is  home  missions,  in 
every  application  of  the  term.  The  profoundest  motives  of 
patriotism,  as  well  as  of  Christianity  should  constrain  the 
churches  to  a  fulfillment  of  this  urgent  duty.  In  thus 
serving  Christ  we  serve  the  land  of  which  he  has  made 
us  citizens  and  custodians. 

If  our  church  becomes  thoroughly  aroused  to  the  im- 
portance of  this  colportage  campaign  the  result  will  be 
seen  all  over  the  country  in  an  awakened  interest  in  the 
foreigners  in  local  neighborhoods.  Individual  churches 
and  Christians  will  be  inspired  to  become  their  own  col- 
porteurs, distributing  in  the  foreign  settlements  accessible 
to  them  the  literature  which  may  be  procured  through  this 
Board. 

"If  you  cannot  cross  the  ocean 
And  the  heathen  lands  explore. 
You   can  find  the  heathen  nearer; 
You  can  help  them  at  your  door." 

Then  there  is  a  reflex  influence  to  be  considered.  We 
cannot  despise  the  man  whom  we  are  trying  to  lead  to 
Christ.  The  sentiment  of  Christian  America,  and  espe- 
cially of  young  people,  toward  these  strangers,  to  whom 
we  owe  hospitality,  may  be,  in  large  measure,  changed 
from  contempt  and  superciliousness  to  one  of  sympathy 
and  helpfulness.  It  would  be  no  small  result  of  this  new 
work  if  the  eyes  of  the  people  could  be  opened  to  the 
plain  fact  that  every  alien  is  a  potential  citizen,  and  that 
he  is  here  by  our  invitation  and  by  sanction  of  the  law. 
As  such,  he  is  entitled,  to  respectful  consideration,  and  to 
a  helping  hand  in  his  progress  toward  self-respecting,  in- 
telligent Christian  citizenship. 


APPENDIX  D 
The  Department  of  Young  People's  Work 

The  Department  of  Young  People's  Work  was  estab- 
lished in  September,  1907.  Before  that  time  the  Presby- 
terian Church  had  no  headquarters  for  its  young  people's 
societies.  It  had  headquarters  for  other  organizations, 
such  as  the  Board  of  Publication  and  Sabbath-School 
Work  for  its  Sunday  schools,  the  Missionary  Boards  for 
its  missionary  societies  and  the  Brotherhood  office  for  its 
Brotherhoods ;  but  for  its  Christian  Endeavor  Societies 
(Junior,  Intermediate  and  Young  People's),  its  young  peo- 
ple's organizations  of  other  names,  its  boys'  clubs  and 
girls'  associations,  the  denomination  made  provision  neither 
for  control  and  supervision  nor  for  leadership  and  support. 

In  order  to  remedy  this  situation,  the  Young  People's 
Department  was  brought  into  existence.  It  was  made  an 
integral  part  of  the  Board  of  Publication  and  Sabbath- 
School  Work,  because  that  seemed  the  logical  point  at 
which  to  attach  it  to  the  denominational  machinery. 

New  Societies 

Free  leaflets  are  available  to  any  worker,  giving  a  full 
description  of  the  best  known  clubs  and  organizations 
for  use  among  all  grades  of  youth.  In  addition  to  these, 
expert  advice  is  freely  offered  as  to  that  type  of  society 
most  likely  to  prove  of  service  in  any  given  case.  Where 
desired,  a  complete  system  of  organizations  adapted  to  meet 
a  pastor's  needs  in  dealing  with  all  ages,  junior,  inter- 
mediate and  young  people's,  is  outlined  for  inquirers. 

Better  Societies 

The  department  has  striven  with  even  greater  aggres- 
siveness to  increase  the  efficiency  of  those  young  peo- 
ple's societies  already  organized.  Here  the  most  effort  and 
time  has  been  spent  in  behalf  of  Christian  Endeavor,  inas- 
much as  societies  of  that  name  constitute  the  largest  part 
of  the  young  people's  organizations  in  the  church. 

Perhaps  the  most  effective  agency  employed  by  the  de- 
partment in  raising  the  plane  of  efficiency  among  the  young 

143 


144 


APPENDIX  D 


people's    societies    is    the    summer   conference    or  training 
school   for  workers. 

These  gatherings  are  held  at  Pocono  Pines,  Pennsyl- 
vania, for  the  eastern  synods ;  at  Winona  Lake,  Indiana, 
for  synods  of  the  middle  section ;  at  Lebanon,  Tennessee, 
for  the  south  central  synods ;  a  fourth  at  Hollister,  Mis- 
souri, for  the  synods  of  Missouri,  Kansas,  Arkansas  and 
Oklahoma ;  and  a  fifth  at  Storm  Lake,  Iowa,  for  the  synods 
of  Iowa,  Nebraska,  South  Dakota  and  Minnesota.  Not 
only  are  delegates  who  attend  these  conferences  most  care- 
fully trained  in  all  lines  of  young  people's  activities,  study 
classes,  etc.,  but  when  they  return  home  they  receive 
constant  personal  attention  from  headquarters  in  order  that 
they  may  not  fail  to  utilize  the  training  thus  received. 

Education 

Again  the  department  has  attempted  to  aid  the  church 
in  giving  its  youth  more  adequate  religious  education. 
This  is  unquestionably  the  most  difficult,  but  also  the  most 
important  task  with  which  the  department  has  to  do.  Our 
young  people  need  more  instruction  along  ,many  lines  and 
some  of  the  best  agencies  through  which  to  work  in  order 
to  augment  the  education  now  afforded  seem  to  be  the 
young  people's   societies. 

In  its  first  efforts  the  department  worked  alone.  At  the 
present  time  it  is  cooperating  with  and  is  trying  to  promote 
the  plans  of  the  Assembly's  Committee  on  Religious  Edu- 
cation. 

During  the  time  until  the  Committee  on  Religious  Edu- 
cation shall  be  finally  ready  to  give  the  results  of  its 
work  to  the  church,  the  department  has  worked  out  a 
provisional  course  for  use  by  pastors  in  suggesting  text- 
books, etc.,  for  all  grades  of  young  people's  societies. 
The  course  includes : 

1.  For  juniors— Simple  Bible  memory  work. 

2.  For  intermediates — Two  study  classes  a  year;  one 
on  Bible  and  the  other  on  missions. 

3.  For  young  people's  societies — Two  other  study  classes 
a  year. 

4.  For  the  home — A  carefully  chosen  library  of  twelve 
volumes. 

5.  A  pastor's  instruction  class  to  be  held  for  one  hour 
a  week  for  a  period  of  six  weeks  at  some  time  during 
the  year. 

By  act  of  General  Assembly  the  first  Sunday  in  Febru- 
ary of  each  year  is  named  Young  People's  Day.  It  is 
recommended  that  on  that  day  the  evening  services  of  our 


APPENDIX  D  145 

congregations  be  devoted  to  a  special  meeting  in  behalf 
of  young  people,  and  that  a  chance  be  given,  at  least  in 
the  young  people's  societies,  for  a  contribution  toward 
the  support  of  the  Department  of  Young  People's  Work. 
All  money  spent  by  the  department  above  the  sum  con- 
tributed on  Young  People's  Day  is  taken  from  the  treasury 
of  the  Sabbath-School  and  Missionary  Department  of  the 
Board. 


APPENDIX  E 

COMPARISON    OF    SCHOOL   POPULATION  WITH    SUNDAY- 
SCHOOL  ENROLLMENT  BY  STATES 

I.  School  population  2.  Total 

six  to  twenty  Sunday-school 

years  of  age.  enrollment. 

Alabama     7So,3S7  396,884 

Arizona    56,897  11,780 

Arkansas    551,672  248,200 

California     555,554  234,304 

Colorado    215,940  122,153 

Connecticut     298,454  141,347 

Delaware 57,932  55,625 

District    of    Columbia 79,249  78,724 

Florida   243,917  136,768 

Georgia    925,865  507,786 

Idaho    96,819  21,153 

Illinois    1,615,914  957,132 

Indiana    777,889  565,258 

Iowa   675,222  464,901 

Kansas    515,156  438,056 

Kentucky     755,709  328,761 

Lousiana    575,866  172,941 

Maine     i95,i97  107,338 

Maryland      388,486  277,057 

Massachusetts     881,024  362,908 

Michigan    796,887  363,793 

Minnesota    648,775  218,938 

Mississippi     644,805  315,793 

Missouri     993,998  612,812 

Montana     93,77i  43,805 

Nebraska    373,868  174,100 

Nevada     16,132  4,273 

New    Hampshire    111,634  55,639 

New  Jersey     708,525  411,644 

New  Mexico    105,403  22,036 

New  York   2,454,428  1,021,338 

North  Carolina     785,583  539,237 

North  Dakota     183,336  60,470 

Ohio    1,313,809  1,135,452 

Oklahoma    566,323  199,465 

Oregon     175,386  116,976 

Pennsylvania     2,194,303  1,835,761 

Rhode    Island     148,102  57,399 

South  Carolina     564,260  361,630 

South  Dakota  183,979  68,966 

Tennessee    738,478  392,846 

Texas    1,363,713  844,000 

Utah   121,016  9,809 

Vermont    94, 701  66,139 

Virginia     697,649  475,402 

Washington     293,478  I53,i79 

West   Virginia    396,818  190,116 

Wisconsin    732,544  243,297 

Wyoming     35,776  14,932 

Total     27,750,599  15,638,323 

1.  These  figures  are  taken  from  the  report  of  the  United  States 
Census   P.ureau,   and   are  based   upon   the    1910  census. 

2.  These  figures  include  adult  members  of  the  Sunday  school 
enrolled  in  PTome  Departments,  teacher-training  classes,  and  organ- 
ized adult  Bible  classes,   as  well  as  members  on  Cradle  Roll. 

146 


APPENDIX  E 


147 


SUMMARY    OF    PERMANENT    RESULTS    OF    SUNDAY- 
SCHOOL   MISSIONARY  WORK,    REPORTED   BY 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL    MISSIONARIES    AT 
WORK,  APRIL  I,   1912 


SYNODS 

°   S 

-C.2 

CO          i-t 

13 

c 

u 

'S. 

3 

0 
0 

B 

3 

H 

13 

".a 

3 
a 
'C-d 

(U    V 

c 
0 

a 

'S 

bO 
;-• 
0 

13 

IS 

u 

e 

4) 

35 

49 

129 

62 

32 
124 
105 
53 
58 
10 
20 

54 
70 
62 
1 1 

226 
36 
83 

181 
61 
34 

142 
195 
472 
224 
151 
380 
492 
140 
219 

50 
151 
303 
441 
239 

55 
970 
191 
446 
692 
305 
131 

1,202 

1,797 
6,260 
2,186 
1,206 
3,723 
4,183 
1,481 
1,752 
500 
655 
2,247 
2,033 
2,887 
550 
8,931 
1,224 
4,075 
4,938 
1-833 
1,020 

1,344 
1,992 

6,732 
2,410 

1,357 
4,103 
4,675 
1,621 
1,971 
550 
806 
2,550 
2,474 
3,126 
600 
9,901 
1,415 
4,521 
5,630 
2,138 
1,151 

1 

17 

A.tlantic     (Colored) 

: 
4 

10 

54 

Canadian    (Colored)  . . . 

Catawba    (Colored) 

3 
13 

I 
7 

63 
252 

22 
133 

East    Tennessee    (Col.) 

2 
2 

I 
3 

28 

49 
19 
8S 

5 

171 

I 
I 
4 
2 

42 

36 

71 

142 

New  York 

North  Dakota   

Ohio    

134 

14 

1 12 

93 

61 
119 

57 

8 

158 

80 
124 

619 
118 
603 
477 
301 
637 
283 
19 
1,288 
380 
628 

5.071 

905 

5,552 

3,502 

1,722 

6,370 

2,232 

153 

12,343 

3,147 

4,820 

5,690 
1,023 
6,155 
3,979 
2,023 
7,007 
2,515 
172 
13,631 
3,527 
5,448 

4 

71 

2 

5 
4 

I 
1 
7 

39 
123 

106 

75 

6 

South    Dakota    

Texas    

Utah    

19 
209 

West   Virginia    

1 

25 

Totals 

2,455 

11,742 

100,500 

112,242 

78 

1,867 

148  A.PPENDIX  E 

SUMMARY  OF  PERMANENT  RESULTS— Continued 


SYNODS 


1--0 
•2   D. 

"Stn 

0^ 

SiS 

0) 

1)    • 

0^ 

j: 

000 

1-00 

3 
J! 

"3  bo 

3     M 

cn 

a  c 

J3 

4J     r/l 

rt-j3 

•si 

5'^^ 

0 

-  a>  C 
g  1-  0 

utJ 

".Soo 

Oi3 

'n  "  M 

4)    <U 

0  2  g 

^^ 

tL  ^ 

?.^§ 

^c 

^ 

S.St/i 

t> 

o-a  « 

?^ 

PM 

:z; 

H 

Ph 

Alabama     

Arkansas    

Atlantic    (Colored)    

California    

Canadian    (Colored)    

Catawaba    (Colored)    

Colorado     

East  Tennessee  (Colored) , 

Idaho    

Illinois    , 

Indiana     

Iowa    - 

Kansas    

Kentucky     , 

Michigan    

Minnesota    

Mississippi 

Missouri    , 

Montana 

Nebraska 

New  Mexico    

New  Jersey    

New  York    

North    Dakota    

Ohio    

Oklahoma    

Oregon     

South    Dakota    

Tennessee    

Texas      

Utah    

Washington     

West   Virginia    

Wisconsin    


Totals 


4 
4 

74 
66 

10 
58 
70 
28 

14 
1 1 
36 
57 
20 
19 
55 
197 


58 

62 

7 

7 

3 

118 
3 
61 
58 
77 
29 
9 
23 

106 
26 
78 


172 
61 


601 


4 
84 
76 

10 
84 
82 
30 
14 
17 
47 
60 
39 
21 
227 
258 


119 

87 

115 

9 

3 

2 

123 

3 

74 

68 

90 

39 

15 

24 

132 

72 

80 

2,116 


$500.00 

250.00 

1,275.00 


38,150.00 


12,300.00 


6,575-oo 
3,200.00 
800.00 
12,600.00 
3,700.00 
2,100.00 


6,500.00 


3,500.00 

5,700.00 

1,400.00 

14,700.00 


61  $126,850.00 


APPENDIX  F 
Missionary  Illustrations 

These  illustrations  are  taken  from  the  experiences  of 
our  Sunday-school  missionaries.  They  will  be  found  use- 
ful in  connection  with  missionary  exercises  in  Sunday 
school ;  or  in  missionary  instruction  in  the  individual 
classes. 

Christmas  an  Unkno\vn  Day 

There  are  people  even  in  the  United  States  who  are 
ignorant  of  the  meaning  of  Christmas.  A  Sunday-school 
missionary  in  the  mountains  of  southeastern  Missouri  was 
traveling  in  one  of  the  isolated  parts  of  that  region  and 
relates   this    experience : 

"One  night  after  supper  with  a  family  of  six,  the  'old 
woman'  (as  she  was  called)  said  that  she  wanted  me  to 
come  into  the  other  room  and  sit  around  the  fireplace 
with  them,  that  'dad'  wanted  to  ask  me  some  questions. 
We  all  filed  into  the  next  room,  immediately  in  front  of 
the  fire,  with  the  family  forming  the  rest  of  the  semicircle, 
dad,  on  the  right,  leaning  up  against  the  mantel,  and  the 
oldest  boy  on  his  opposite  side  (this  young  man  of  twenty 
could  neither  read  nor  write,  and  had  never  seen  a  rail- 
road). Dad  opened  up:  T  wish  you  would  explain  this 
Christmas  business  to  us.  A  year  ago  in  December  our 
neighbors  over  here  got  a  box  from  the  East,  and  they 
called  it  a  Christmas  box,  and  they  invited  us  over  and 
gave  us  candy  and  lots  of  good  things  to  eat,  and  some 
cards  that  had  "Christmas  Greetings"  on  them.  I  guess 
some  of  them  are  around  here  yet,  ain't  they,  old  woman? 
We  asked  them  to  tell  us  what  they  meant  by  Christmas, 
but  they  couldn't  tell  us  very  well,  and  the  old  woman 
'low'd  you'd  know ;  so  go  to  it  and  explain  the  whole 
business.  I  don't  care  nuthin  about  it,  but  these  kids  just 
run  me  crazy  about  it.' " 

"Good-by,  God" 

A  family  was  found  by  one  of  our  North  Dakota  mis- 
sionaries   living    about    thirty-five    miles    from    any    place 

149 


I50  APPENDIX  F 

where  religious  services  were  held.  The  mother  told  him 
this  story.  "When  my  husband  returned  to  our  Iowa 
home  after  he  had  filed  on  his  claim  our  little  daughter 
asked  him,  'Is  there  any  Sunday  school  up  in  North 
Dakota  where  our  claim  is?'  Papa  said,  'No.'  'Is  there 
any  -church  up  there?'  Papa  said,  'No.'  'Is  God  up 
there?'  Papa  did  not  know  what  to  say.  The  days 
passed,  and  finally  we  began  loading  our  goods  on  the  car 
preparatory  to  leaving  for  our  claim.  The  last  load  was 
on  the  wagon  and  we  were  ready  to  leave  the  house,  when 
we  missed  our  little  girl.  I  finally  found  her  in  the  lit- 
tle bedroom  where  she  had  always  slept;  she  was  in 
one  corner,  on  her  knees  with  her  face  to  the  wall,  pray- 
ing. She  was  saying,  'O  God,  we  are  going  to  North 
Dakota.  There  is  no  Sunday  school  there,  there  is  no 
church  there  and  there  is  no  God  there.  Good-by,  God, 
good-by.'  This  so  touched  my  heart  that  I  knelt  by  her 
side  and  poured  out  my  heart  to  God,  asking  him  in  some 
way  to  bring  the  Sunday  school  to  us  in  our  new  home." 
Inside  of  a  couple  of  months  the  Sunday-school  mission- 
ary found  that  home,  and  in  answer  to  that  little  child's 
prayer  a  Sunday  school  was  organized.  In  about  five 
months  more  a   Presbyterian  church  was  organized. 

Sunday  Eggs  for  the  Sunday  School 

A  missionary  in  Iowa  was  surprised  by  a  visit  from 
two  little  girls,  with  a  gift  of  $5.00.  Asked  for  an  ex- 
planation, the  elder  replied :  "One  year  ago  we  asked  papa 
to  give  us  the  eggs  that  the  hens  laid  on  Sundays.  He 
agreed,  so  every  Sunday  evening  we  went  out  to  the 
henhouse  and  gathered  the  eggs,  and  on  Monday  we 
sold  them.  At  the  end  of  the  year  we  had  $4.60  and 
papa  put  forty  cents  to  our  earnings  ajid  that  made 
$5.00.  So  we  want  you  to  organize  a  Sunday  school 
for  us." 

That  money  was  invested  in  a  new  school,  and  in  less 
than  six  months  after  the  organization  some  fifteen  mem- 
bers of  the  school  confessed  Christ. 


Rode  to  a  Meeting  on  a  Stone  Boat 

In  a  community  fourteen  miles  from  any  town  or  re- 
ligious services,  a  North  Dakota  missionary  organized  a 
Sunday  school  in  a  granary.  Concerning  this  school  he 
wrote : 

"The  first  home  I  visited  was  a  dugout,  the  home  of  an 
Irish  Presbyterian.     When  I  told  the  lady  my  mission  she 


APPENDIX  F  151 

said :  'We  have  been  living  here  nearly  four  years  and 
have  been  wondering  when  the  Sunday  school  would  come 
so  that  our  children  could  go  to  it.  Praise  the  Lord,  it's 
come.'  She  promised  to  be  at  the  meeting  to  organize  a 
Sunday  school  that  evening.  When  the  hour  came  to 
open  the  service  the  family  was  not  there,  so  I  said  to  a 
man  standing  by,  'I  wonder  why  they  are  not  here?' 
He  said,  'Did  they  promise  to  come?  Then  they'll  be 
here.  They  have  no  buggy,  only  one  horse,  a  yoke  of 
oxen  and  a  wagon.'  I  waited  a  few  minutes  and  presently 
the  man  came  to  me  and  said,  'Here  they  come.'  When 
they  drew  near  we  saw  that  they  were  riding  on  a  stone 
boat,  the  mother  was  sitting  on  a  soap  box  holding  her 
babe  in  her  arms  and  the  husband  was  standing  up  be- 
hind her,  and  they  drove  up  in  front  of  the  granary  with 
as  much  flourish  as  though  they  had  had  a  carriage  and 
a  fine  team  of  horses.  The  husband  was  elected  super- 
intendent. The  Sunday  school  has  grown  steadily  ever 
since  its  organization,  and  last  summer  a  Presbyterian 
church  was  organized  in  that  community  with  thirty-five 
charter  members,  the  direct  growth  of  that  Sunday 
school." 

The  Youngest  Sunday-School  Superintendent 

A  dozen  years  ago  the   town  of  C was  hopelessly 

irreligious.  There  was  nothing  in  all  the  community  life 
that  savored  of  religion.  One  of  the  settlers,  a  Christian 
Scotch  woman,  was  so  pressed  in  spirit  by  the  conditions 
existing  that  she  mounted  her  horse  and  made  a  tour 
of  the  settlement,  inviting  the  children  to  come  to  her 
cabin  and  form  a  Sunday  school.  She  encountered  much 
scoffing  and  ridicule,  but  the  children  came.  Time  passed 
on,  but  the  faithful  disciple  persevered  despite  many  dis- 
couragements, chief  of  which  was  the  lack  of  a  helper. 
A  little  child  of  nine  years  volunteered  her  services.  With 
many  misgivings,  the  woman  placed  the  very  little  chil- 
dren in  her  care.  Levina  studied  her  lessons  diligently, 
under  the  tutelage  of  the  older  woman,  and  for  five  years 
was  an  efficient  helper. 

Then  the  superintendent  died,  and  the  girl  Levina — 
now  fourteen  years  old — was  left  alone  to  carry  _  on  the 
Sunday  school.  She  never  faltered  but  went  straight  on, 
and  her  school  of  sixty  members  became  so  influential 
that  the  tide  of  neighborhood  sentiment  turned  in  her 
favor.  A  missionary's  help  was  secured,  evangelistic  serv- 
ices were  held  with  more  than  twenty  converts,  and  now 
the  people  are  ready  to  support  a  church. 


152  APPENDIX  F 

The  Work  of  One  Little  Girl 

"A  little  girl  said  to  a  Sunday-school  missionary:  'When 
we  came  here  there  was  no  Sunday  school,  so  I  went  to 
all  our  neighbors  and  got  their  little  folks  to  come  to  our 
home,  and  we  organized  a  workers'  band.  We  have 
worked  all  summer  and  we  have  $4.00  for  a  Sunday 
school.  Won't  you  come  and  organize  it  for  us?'  The 
next  spring,  by  appointment,  I  went  to  them  and  found  a 
house  full.  I  organized  a  good  school  there.  This  little 
girl  had  a  friend  living  eight  or  ten  miles  from  her  home, 
and  while  visiting  her  friend  told  her  about  the  new 
Sunday  school  at  home.  This  kindled  the  desire  in  other 
hearts  and  I  was  asked  to  come  to  visit  them,  and  I  or- 
ganized another  flourishing  school.  In  the  fall  Presby- 
terian  churches   were   organized   at  both   places." 

How  an  Entire  County  Was  Transformed 

A  Sunday-school  missionary  in  east  Tennessee  illus- 
trates the  improvement  in  the  conditions  in  one  county 
after  three  years  of  missionary  labors,  by  the  following 
comparison : 

Before  the  Missionary  Came  After  Three  Years 

No  County  Association.  County  Association. 

No  Institutes  Conducted.  Six  Institutes  per  Year. 

No  Annual  Convention.  One    to    Two    Conventions 

Number    of    Schools    in  per  Year. 

County    20  Number  of   Schools   in 

Number  of  Pupils 800  County    20 

Number  of  Schools  with  Number  of   Pupils. ..  .1,900 

Hymn  books   none  Number      of      Schools 

Number  of  Libraries. . .       2  with  Hymn  books...      18 

Number  of  Libraries..        9 

Persecuted  for  Righteousness'  Sake 

From  a  Missionary  in  the  Southern  Mountains 

"It  is  diflficult  to  do  much  with  the  older  folks,  but  the 
young  people  accept  Christ  readily,  take  part  in  public 
prayer,  and  when  not  whipped  and  forced  to  stay  away  are 
punctual  in  their  attendance  at  all  the  services.  We  have 
had  them  to  come  and  take  part  in  our  meetings,  when 
they  knew  that  they  would  be  severely  flogged.  One 
woman  with  her  family  of  six  children  came  out  to  Sun- 
day school  not  long  since,  and  we  noticed  that  they  were 
weeping  during  the  Sunday-school  hour,  and  in  the  prayer 


APPENDIX  F  153 

service  that  followed,  how  that  woman  did  pray,  and 
when  asked  as  to  her  trouble  she  said,  'My  children  and 
I  were  forbidden  to  come  here  to-day  under  penalty  of 
a  severe  flogging,  but  we  left  all  to  God,  and  are  going  to 
take  the  whipping  in  preference  to  staying  away  from 
meetings.    The  children  all  wanted  me  to  do  this.' " 

Ministering  to  the  Needy 

A  Sunday-school  missionary  tells  this  pathetic  story 
about  a  funeral  service  which  he  was  called  upon  to  con- 
duct : 

"The  service  was  conducted  outside.  What  a  scene  it 
was.  The  homesteaders  gathered  to  pay  their  last  re- 
spects, many  of  them  in  their  everyday  clothes,  which — 
in  many  cases — were  their  best.  We  tramped  along 
through  the  mud  and  brush  for  one  and  one  half  miles 
where  we  had  to  cross  the  Big  Fork  River  in  a  row- 
boat.  I  wish  you  could  see  the  embankment  we  had  to 
let  that  body  down,  and  up  again  on  the  other  side,  after 
we  had  crossed.  Then  we  had  to  go  ahead  of  the  team 
and  cut  out  the  road  so  that  the  team  could  get  through 
to  the  place  of  burial.  There  the  old  father  and  mother 
were  waiting  for  our  arrival.  She  was  the  only  woman 
present.  I  had  to  cancel  my  appointments  for  that  day, 
but  I  am  glad  that  I  was  privileged  to  go  and  speak  some 
words  of  comfort  to  that  father  and  mother  beside  that 
open  grave  in  the  lonely  forest." 

Enduring  Hardship 

One  of  our  missionaries  last  winter  was  visiting  a  log- 
ging camp  in  northern  Wisconsin.  Traveling  all  day,  and 
without  an  opportunity  to  satisfy  his  hunger,  he  reached 
his  destination  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  after  a 
long,  rough  ride  over  a  frozen  roadway.  He  waited  for 
two  hours  in  the  little  log  schoolhouse  in  zero  weather 
until  the  people  gathered  for  the  meeting.  Then,  to  a 
crowded  house,  eager  for  the  gospel  message,  he  preached 
the  Word.  He  went  to  the  home  of  one  of  the  settlers  to 
spend  the  night,  and  was  given  the  best  they  had  to  offer 
— a  bunk  on  the  floor  in  the  lean-to  of  the  log  house,  in 
whose  one  room  the  father,  mother  and  six  children  also 
slept  on  the  floor.  The  next  day  he  held  three  services, 
one  in  the  Norwegian  language  and  then  tramped  for 
miles  through  the  woods  to  his  next  appointment.  This 
missionary  has  sixty  mission  stations  under  his  care  in 
which  he  is  the  only  visiting  minister.     The  day  of  mis- 


154 


APPENDIX  F 


sionary  heroes  has  not  yet  passed.  Here  in  our  own  land 
we  may  find  examples  of  self-denial  in  the  Master's  serv- 
ice that  make  us  ashamed  of  our  selfish  seeking  after 
the  things  that  minister  to  our  ease  and  comfort. 

"Naked,  and  Ye  Qothed  Me" 

The  Sunday-school  missionary  is  frequently  able  to  re- 
lieve the  needs  of  the  poor  on  his  field  by  distributing 
clothing  donated  for  the  purpose.     One  says: 

"I  received  a  letter  last  week  from  way  down  in  the 
southwestern  county  of  the  state,  near  the  Colorado  line. 
I  have  been  working  -with  the  pastor-evangelist  to  get  all 
the  neighborhoods  supplied  where  we  as  Presbyterians  are 
working.  He  asked  a  man  to  send  me  a  list  of  the  needy 
of  their  neighborhood.  The  list  contained  forty  people, 
from  babies  up.  It  called — among  other  things— for  forty 
pairs  of  shoes.  I  had  told  the  pastor-evangelist  that  I 
would  send  a  barrel  down  there.  When  I  looked  over  the 
list  I  thought  I  would  send  two.  After  I  got  things 
sorted  out  for  them  I  thought  I  would  have  to  make  it 
three  and  I  finally  added  a  little  box.  The  man  who 
wrote  said  that  the  people  had  a  very  hard  winter,  had 
lost  considerable  stock  and  that  their  horses  were  so  poor 
that  they  couldn't  drive  them  so  far  to  get  the  barrel,  but 
that  he  would  go  to  Syracuse  and  haul  down  whatever  I 
sent.  That  meant  a  drive  of  sixty  or  sixty-five  miles  to 
the  railroad  and  the  same  back  with  the  barrels.  I  thought 
that  a  community  as  needy  as  they  were  and  a  man  who 
-would  drive  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  to  get  the 
stuff  ought  to  have  as  good  as  I  could  send.  I  managed, 
by  buying  some  more  stuff,  to  fit  them  out  pretty  well  and 
sent  thirty-four  pairs  of  shoes  in  the  lot." 

Among  the  Gold-Seekers 

A  Sunday-school  missionary  who  has  been  very  success- 
ful in  work  among  the  miners  writes : 

"After  a  thirty  mile  ride  through  the  rolling  sagebrush 

country,   reached  the  new  mining  camp   at  J .     About 

one  hundred  and  forty  tents  were  already  up.  About 
three  hundred  men  were  on  the  ground.  and_  the  country 
for  miles  around  had  been  staked  off  in  mining  claims. 
The  missionary  secured  a  bed  in  the  only  hotel  in  town — 
a  tent  twelve  by  sixteen   feet,   accommodating  five  guests. 

"A  saloon  was  kindly  offered  the  missionary  for  the 
first  church  service,  but  a  larger  place  was  found,  a  tent 
used  by  the  lumber  company  for  storing  hay  and  grain. 


APPENDIX  F 


155 


The  bales  of  hay  were  arranged  about  the  walls  of  the 
tent  and  made  very  comfortable  seats.  The  sacks  of 
grain  were  piled  to  the  peak  of  the  tent,  making  a  com- 
fortable gallery  in  which  twenty  young  men  sat.  A  violin 
teacher  from  Kansas  Citj'  volunteered  to  assist  with  the 
music.  Some  of  the  young  men  felt  the  need  of  a  church 
bell,  so — from  the  store — they  secured  a  piece  of  drill 
steel  about  ten  feet  long.  A  piece  of  wire  was  attached 
to  each  end.  Two  men  held  the  bar  while  a  third  ham- 
mered on  the  middle  of  it  with  an  ax.  The  noise  sounded 
like  a  dozen  church  bells.  Soon  from  all  directions  they 
began  to  come  until  the  tent  was  crowded.  More  than 
eighty  persons  were  there. 

"As  the  missionary,  the  violinist  and  the  leader  of  the 
singing  entered  the  tent,  they  were  greeted  with  a  hearty 
round  of  applause,  the  customary  greeting  on  social  oc- 
casions in  mining  camps  when  the  violinist  appears.  A 
minute  later  the  company  were  standing  and  reverently 
singing  'Praise  God  from  whom  all  blessings  flow.'  No 
nonsense  now !  Every  head  was  reverently  bowed  during 
the  invocation.  The  Easter  service  was  begun.  For  fifteen 
minutes  we  sang  such  hymns  as  'Joy  to  the  world,  the  Lord 
is  come,'  'Abide  with  me,  fast  falls  the  eventide,'  'Sun  of 
mj'  soul,  thou  Saviour  dear.'  An  hour  of  reverent  wor- 
ship was   seriously  participated  in  by  all. 

"The  next  day  a  choice  piece  of  land  was  given  by  the 
town-site  company,  one  block  from  the  proposed  business 
center  of  town.  The  sagebrush  was  cut  from  the  lot  and 
a  sign  put  up  indicating  the  probable  site  of  a  Presbyterian 
church." 

The  Influence  of  the  Mission  Sunday  School 

One  of  the  incidents  that  encourage  Sunday-school  mis- 
sionaries, and  remind  them  that  God's  Word  shall  not  re- 
turn to  him  void,  is  related  by  a  Colorado  missionary : 

"Talking  with  the  storekeeper  I  thought  I  discovered 
something  familiar  about  his  voice,  so  inquired  his  name. 

"'Walker,  sir;  my  name  is  Walker,'  he  replied. 

"  'Walker !     There  used  to  be  a  man  by  your  name  who 

kept  a  store  in  the  coal  camp,   C ■,  when   I   visited  it 

ten  years  ago,  are  you  the  man?' 

"  'I'm  the   same  man,   I   reckon.     I   lived   in   C and 

kept  the  store  there  at  that  time.' 

"  'Well,  I  have  been  away  from  Colorado  for  almost 
seven  years,  and  have  not  kept  much  in  touch  with  af- 
fairs in  the  state  during  that  time.  You  had  two  boys 
in  whom  I  was  much  interested.  I  would  like  to  ask  you 
II 


156 


APPENDIX  F 


about  them.  When  I  organized  the  Sunday  school  there 
they  attended  it.  And  whenever  I  revisited  the  place  they 
helped  me  by  ringing  the  bell,  lilling  the  lamps  with  the 
oil  you  furnished  without  charge,  and  by  having  the  school- 
house  swept  and  in  readiness  for  the  service.  What  be- 
came of  your  bo3's  ?  Did  they  stay  with  the  teachings  of 
the  Sunday  school  and  take  Christ  as  their  Saviour  and 
example,  or  did  they,  like  so  many  of  the  coal  camp 
boys,  form  habits  of  drunkenness,  gambling  and  other 
vices?' 

"  'They  stayed  with  the  Sunday  school.  Neither  drinks 
nor  uses  tobacco.  I  am  proud  of  my  boys.  After  com- 
pleting the  common  school  course  they  went  on  to  high 
school,  then  through  college.  One  of  my  boys  is  here 
visiting  me  now.' 

"The  son,  hearing  us  talk  of  him,  came  to  the  door. 
With  his  frank,  open  countenance,  handsome  features  and 
six  feet  of  stature  I  could  not  help  admiring  him.  As 
he  approached  he  smiled.  Taking  me  by  the  hand  he 
said,  'Yes,  I  am  one  of  the  little  boys  who  attended  your 

Sunday  school  in  C .     Come  and  see  me  when  you  are 

in  my  town.' 

"  'I  will,'  I  said,  and  put  his  name  and  address  in  my 
notebook. 

"  'But,'  said  he,  'if  you  ask  for  that  name  they  may  not 
be  able  to  tell  you  about  me.'  (I  had  written  the  name  I 
knew  him  by  as  a  boy.)  'They  call  me  "professor"  down 
there.  I  am  principal  of  the  schools  and  have  ten  teach- 
ers under  me.  Next  year  will  be  my  third  there,  and  each 
year   has   seen   an   increase   in   salary.' 

"'What  about  your  brother?' 

"  'He  is  a  chemist  for  the  U Company.' 

"  'I  am  glad  to  learn  you  have  both  done  so  well.     You 

are  not   sorry  you  went  to   Sunday  school   in   C ,   are 

you?' 

"'No,  indeed.  That  was  the  start  to  a  better  life.  But 
for  that  school  we  might  still  be  in  the  mining  camp  dig- 
ging coal,  drinking  whisky,  and  frittering  life  away  to 
no  purpose.' " 

Fruit  in  China  from  a  Minnesota  Seed 

This  interesting  incident  is  from  the  experience  of  a  Sun- 
day-school missionary  in  the  northwest : 

"I    went   to   the    village   of    K where    there   was    a 

little  mission  Sunday  school.  It  was  the  only  English- 
speaking  service  in  the  neighborhood.  I  engaged  the  town 
hall  for  evangelistic  services,  and  the  people  attended  the 


APPENDIX  F  157 

meetings  largely.  Yet  they  seemed  very  indifferent,  and 
would  scarcely  speak  to  the  Sunday-school  missionary. 
After  a  while  their  critical  spirit  gave  way  to  kindlier 
feelings,  though  the  work  seemed  discouraging,  and  I 
felt  as  though  little  had  been  accomplished.  However,  a 
little  home  mission  church  was  organized  as  a  result  of 
those  services. 

"About  three  years  ago  I  was  in  Minneapolis  and  called 

on   Rev.    Dr.   E .     He   showed   me  the  photograph  of 

a  young  woman  dressed  in  Chinese  costume  and  said, 
'Do  you  remember  this  young  woman?'  I  did  not,  and  he 
said,    'Don't   you   remember  the  time    when   you   went  to 

the  town  of  K and  held  meetings  there?     This  young 

woman  came  into  the  church  at  that  time,  and  now  she  is 
a  missionary  in  China.' " 

Training-  Workers   for  the  Kingdom 

A  West  Virginia  missionary  gives  an  instance  of  how 
the  little  country  Sunday  school  trains  workers  for  the 
city   Sunday   schools : 

"The  other  day  I  visited  Shelving  Rock.  This  place 
was,  a  few  years  ago,  destitute  of  Sunday-school  privileges. 
I   organized   a   school.     The   only  available  person  to   ask 

as  superintendent  and  teacher  was  Clinton  G ,  a  young 

fellow  who  was  teaching  the  district  school.  He  con- 
ducted the  Sunday  school  for  two  years  in  a  most  profit- 
able   and    pleasing    manner.       Some    time    ago    when    in 

Parkersburg  I  met  Mr.  G and  he  took  me  to  the  room 

in   the   largest   church   in   the   city  where   he   conducts   the 

largest    organized    class    of    the    city.     Mr.    G 's    large 

opportunity  of  to-day  had  its  beginning  in  Shelving 
Rock." 

Again  he  writes : 

"Seven  or  eight  years  ago  I  went  to  Greenmont.  Three 
teachers  were  employed  in  the  district  school  there.  I 
visited    every    family    in    the    community.     The    following 

Sunday  we  organized  a  school.     Joseph  S was  elected 

superintendent.     Now  let  me  say  that  every   Sunday  from 

that  day  to  this   Mr.   and   Mrs.   S have  been   faithful 

to  their  duties  as  instructors  and  leaders  of  more  than  one 
hundred  on  the  roll  of  their  school.  When  I  visit  in  their 
home  and  see  the  noble  work  they  are  doing,  I  thank  God 
for  the   privilege   of   setting  others   to   work. 

"When  I  think  of  the  two  hundred  and  eighty  workers 
and  the  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty  pupils  in  these  ne- 
glected localities  on  m}"  field,  when  I  think  of  them  lo- 
cated   in    little    schoolhouses    almost    without    equipment. 


158 


APPENDIX  F 


when  I  look  into  the  bright,  eager  faces  of  those  who 
are  hungering  and  thirsting  for  the  glad  tidings,  I  say 
there  is  no  work  that  pays  so  rich  dividends  as  the  work 
of  the  Sunday-school  missionary.  Dividends  in  workers 
— men  and  women  trained  up  for  God  and  Christian 
citizenship." 

Communities  Transformed 

"We  note  some  interesting  examples  of  the  marvelous, 
transforming  power  of  the  gospel,"  writes  a  mission- 
ary. "Some  time  ago  I  visited  a  new  frontier  village,  in 
a  cattle  country,  where  thousands  of  cattle  roamed  the 
plains,  and  through  which  a  railroad  had  just  been  built. 
Being  informed  of  the  godless  character  of  the  place,  and 
the  need  of  gospel  work  in  the  community,  I  dropped  in 
and  found  three  saloons  and  two  general  stores,  a  black- 
smith shop,  a  small  drug  store,  and  a  few  others  doing 
business  in  tents.  There  were  several  families,  some  liv- 
ing in  small  houses,  others  in  tents.  The  saloons  were 
well  patronized  day  and  night  by  the  cowboys  from  the 
surrounding  cattle  ranches.  The  town  had  been  'shot  up' 
on  several  occasions  by  drunken  cowboys.  A  small  build- 
ing had  just  been  erected  for  school  and  church  purposes; 
there  were  two  or  three  Christian  families  in  the  com- 
munity that  were  hoping  for  the  time  to  come  when  they 
could  have  Sunday  school  and  occasional  preaching  serv- 
ice. We  held  a  few  meetings  and  organized  a  Sunday 
school.  The  interest  and  attendance  developed  with  every 
service,  and  at  the  earnest  request  of  the  people  we  con- 
tinued the  meetings  with  the  organization  of  a  church  in 
view." 

From  Sunday  School  to  Church  in  One  Month 

Developments  of  Sunday-school  mission  work  are  most 
encouraging  in  the  Dakotas.     A  missionary  writes : 

"We  entered  the  new  town  of  Souris  September  21. 
We  found  seven  buildings,  all  in  course  of  construction. 
The  first  meetings  was  held  in  the  unfinished  drug  store. 
After  clearing  away  the  building  material  from  a  space 
about  twelve  by  sixteen  feet,  we  placed  some  boards  on 
nail-kegs  for  seats.  We  had  an  enthusiastic  audience  of 
forty-one,  mostly  adults.  Two  weeks  later  our  Presby- 
terial  Sunday-school  missionary  held  services  in  another 
uncompleted  building — the  hardware  store — which  was  well 
attended.  Up  to  this  time  railroad  communication  had 
not  been  established.  There  was  no  schoolhouse  or  other 
suitable  building  in  which  to  hold  the  Sunday-school  and 


APPENDIX  F 


159 


church  services  which  the  people  so  much  desired.  Steps 
were  at  once  taken  toward  erecting  a  chapel,  and  within 
a  week  enough  was  raised  to  pay  for  all  the  material,  all 
labor  being   donated. 

"On  October  20,  one  month  after  the  work  was  started, 
a  Presbyterian  church  of  eighteen  members  was  organ- 
ized, and  during  the  next  month  a  flourishing  Sunday 
school  was  established,  and  the  chapel  made  ready  for 
occupancy.  During  this  short  time  the  town  had  grown 
from  seven  uncompleted  buildings  to  a  city  of  one  hundred 
and  nine  buildings,  tifty  of  which  were  business  houses. 
The  ground  on  which  the  town  stands  was  nothing  but 
a  prairie  homestead  two  months  before  this." 

No  Time  to  Go  to  Church 

"In  visiting  in  a  neighborhood  where  I  was  holding 
meetings  I  called  on  a  prosperous  farmer.  He  had  a 
wife  and  five  small  children.  They  told  me  they  never 
went  to  church ;  they  had  no  time.  Their  little  boy  and 
girl,  seven  and  eight  years  old,  came  one  night,  and  asked 
to  be  allowed  to  come  again.  The  mother  said :  'You 
can  if  you  fill  the  wood  box.'  The  little  girl  asked  leave 
to  go  home  from  school  early,  filled  the  box,  and  attended 
the  meeting.  After  a  few  nights  the  parents  came,  bring- 
ing all  the  family,  and  when  the  invitation  was  given  to 
those  who  wanted  to  be  Christians,  father  and  mother 
stood,  each  holding  a  babe  in  arms.  Since  that  time  they 
have  been  active  in  the  Master's  work." 

Out  of  a  Mountain  Sunday  School 

One  of  the  most  efficient  Sunday-school  missionaries 
in  Tennessee,  John  H.  Wright,  found  Christ  in  one  of  our 
schools.  At  the  age  of  twenty-five  he  could  read  but  lit- 
tle and  was  notoriously  wild  and  wicked.  On  a  Sunday 
night  in  October,  1896,  at  the  close  of  a  gospel  service 
in  a  little  schoolhouse  on  Clear  Creek,  West  Virginia, 
he  was  sitting  with  a  crowd  of  boys.  When  the  Bible 
teacher  asked  all  who  wanted  Christ  as  their  Saviour  to 
arise,  John  with  a  look  of  determination  on  his  face,  got  up. 
He  said,  'T  do  not  want  to  accept  Christ,  but  it  'pears  like 
sumthin'  just  keeps  a  holdin'  of  me  back."  But  on  the 
third  Sunday  afternoon,  October  15,  in  spite  of  the  jeers 
of  the  boys,  he  stayed  after  Sunday  school  to  seek  the 
Lord.  He  had  waited  for  that  "quawr  feelin',"  the  as- 
suring experience  of  the  mountaineer,  but  finally  came, 
just  as  he  was,  took  Christ  at  his  word,   and   soon  was 


l6o  APPENDIX  F 

praising  God  for  saving  his  soul.  At  once  he  was  filled 
with  an  overwhelming  desire  to  know  the  Word  of  God 
and  teach  it.  He  said,  "I  want  to  get  an  education  so 
that  I  can  teach  the  true  Word  of  God."  He  was  given 
a  class  of  boys  in  the  Sunday  school  and  labored  earnestly 
for  the  salvation  of  each  one.  He  learned  to  read  chiefly 
from  the  Bible,  spelling  out  the  words  as  he  went  along. 
He  worked  at  logging  with  an  elder  brother  and  two 
other  wild  fellows  who  tried  in  every  way  to  get  him  to 
swear,  to  drink,  or  in  some  way  to  "break  over,"  but  the 
Lord  kept  him. 

In  February  he  went  to  live  with  an  uncle  in  Illinois, 
but  before  going  he  visited  every  home  in  that  part  of 
Clear  Creek  Valley,  begging  unsaved  ones  to  accept 
Christ.  From  Illinois  he  wrote:  "My  uncle  and  aunt  is 
awful  kind  to  me.  They  didn't  have  nary  Bible  in  their 
house  when  I  came  here.  Uncle  is  a  sinner,  but  she  be- 
longs to  the  church.  I  am  going  to  try  awful  hard  to 
get  uncle  give  his  self  to  the  Lord.  There  has  been  just 
one  meeting  here  since  I  came,  and  I  get  so  lonesome 
when  I  can't  'tend  meeting  and  Sunday  school."  But 
John  went  to  work,  and  soon  he  wrote,  "Well,  we've  got 
a  prayer  meeting  started  up  here  and  a  Sunday  school,  and 
I  am  a  teacher." 

During  this  period  he  was  at  a  meeting  of  the  Winona 
Assembly,  working  his  way  by  waiting  on  the  table  and 
pumping  the  organ.  At  the  close  of  an  address  by  that 
eminent  Bible  expositor,  Rev.  J.  G.  Cunningham,  D.D., 
of  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  John  came  from  his  post  up  to 
the  doctor  and  said,  "I  hope  some  day  to  stand  on  the 
platform  and  teach  the  people  the  Word  of  God,  just  like 
you,"  showing  his  unswerving  ambition  and  his  implicit 
faith.  Later,  he  entered  Moody  Bible  Institute,  where  he 
studied  nearly  two  years.  Then  he  became  a  Sunday- 
school    missionary. 

God  has  blessed  the  work  under  Mr.  Wright's  care,  and 
he  is  testifying  with  increasing  power  to  the  wonderful 
grace  of  God. 

Saved  Through  the  Sunday  School 

A  Sunday-school  missionary  went  to  the  town  of  B , 

near  the  Prior  Mountains  in  Montana,  held  a  preaching 
service  and  organized  a  Sunday  school.  As  the  result  of 
this  school  a  young  man,  the  son  of  a  horse  thief,  was 
converted.  This  young  man  who  used  to  spend  his  time 
helping  his  father  rustle  horses  is  now  a  trusted  govern- 
ment  servant,   and   has   been   the   means   of   bringing  his 


APPENDIX  F  l6l 

mother  to  Christ.  Thousands  of  others  have  been  helped 
in  a  similar  way. 

The  Gospel  for  the  Poor 

"At  a  little  place  called  Prairie  View  in  the  dry  land 
portion  of  northern  Colorado,  I  organized  a  school  in  a 
deserted  claim  shanty.  Seats  were  improvised  and  about 
twenty-tive  people  gathered  to  whom  1  delivered  a  short 
address  and  then   perfected   the   organization. 

"Over  in  South  Park,  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from 
Denver,  I  found  a  little  town  surrounded  by  a  prosper- 
ous ranch  community  with  a  population  in  all  of  about 
one  hundred,  and  no  religious  services  of  any  sort  within 
twenty-five  miles.  These  people  were  anxious  for  serv- 
ices, so  I  organized  a  Sunday  school.  The  storekeeper 
who  has  six  children,  was  on  hand  with  all  his  family, 
and  said  he  wanted  the  school  and  was  willing  to  help  pay 
a  teacher.  The  only  entertainment  these  people  have  is 
the  dance  and  card  playing,  but  they  are  anxious  that 
their  children  have  the  benefit  of  the  Sunday  school  and 
other  religious  services.  I  visited  three  points  in  the  Clear 
Creek  Canon  and  found  three  mining  camps  without 
preaching  and  only  one  with  even  a  Sunday  school.  Three 
women  were  holding  on  to  a  struggling  school  at  one  point, 
and  are  very  anxious   for  preaching." 

How  the  Sunday  School  Drove  Out  the  Dance  Hall 

"For  a  long  time  I  have  tried  to  start  a  Sunday  school 

in  K ,  but  everything  seemed  to  be  against  us.     The 

people  were  indifferent  and  refused  to  help  in  the  work. 
A  large  pavilion  in  the  village  holds  dances  every  other 
Saturday  night,  and  beer  and  whisky  are  sold  on  the 
side.  As  a  result  there  are  many  fights  and  disturbances. 
Bad  books  and  Sabbath  desecration  together  with  pro- 
fanity and  lack  of  parental  control  of  children  made  it 
almost  impossible  to  have  or  keep  up  a  religious  service 
in  this  place.  This  town  is  between  two  railroads,  nine 
miles  each  way  north  and  south,  and  is  the  only  place  for 
forty  miles  on  a  straight  line  west  where  Sunday-school 
and  church  work  was  completely  sidetracked.  I  held 
three  meetings  and  organized  the  Sunday  school,  putting 
a  mother  of  three  little  boys  in  as  superintendent.  She 
said,  "We  must  have  some  place  for  our  children  to  go 
on  Sunday.'  With  the  help  of  her  husband  and  some  of 
the  younger  ladies  the  work  was  started  and  they  are 
keeping  it  going." 


l62  APPENDIX  F 

How  a  Feud  Was  Ended 

"At   a   recent   communion   service   in   J church,   this 

touching  incident  occurred.  The  session  came  forward. 
One  of  the  elders  was  a  former  leader  of  a  family  in  the 
feudal  fights,  but  since  his  conversion  he  has  been  an 
exemplary  Christian  for  some  years.     Among  those  to  be 

received  was  W W ,  a  former  leader  of  his  family 

in  the  feudal  fights,  his  wife  and  several  children.  Deep 
emotion  moved  the  congregation  and  many  were  the  tear- 
stained  eyes,  when  the  elder  stepped  forward  and  gave  his 
former  antagonist  in  many  battles,  the  right  hand  of  fel- 
lowship. The  Prince  of  Peace  conquered.  A  peace  treaty 
between  these  men  and  their  families  was  sealed  that  day 
as  together  they  came  to  the  Lord's  table.  Many  hearts 
in  that  community  were  filled  with  praise  unspeakable." 

A  Hundred  Miles  for  a  Preacher 

"In  Wyoming  I  visited  a  town  of  four  hundred  people. 
There  was  no  religious  work  of  any  kind  in  the  town.  I 
could  not  find  an  out-and-out  Christian  man  or  woman. 
It  was  here  that  a  cowboy  was  killed  in  a  saloon  brawl. 
His  friends  sent  for  the  nearest  preacher,  one  hundred 
miles  away,  but  he  could  not  come.  Finally  the  nineteen- 
year-old  girl  who  was  there  teaching  school  was  forced 
to  conduct  the  funeral  in  order  to  give  the  Christian 
burial  requested  by  his  parents  in  the  East.  This  she  did 
in  the  presence  of  a  crowd  of  saloonkeepers,  gamblers, 
cowboys  and  scarlet  women  in  the  dance  hall.  In  another 
town  the  only  Christian  woman  told  me  she  had  con- 
ducted fourteen  funerals  in  twelve  months,  and  that  only 
two  of  those  deceased  had  died  a  natural  death.  She 
said,  'We  have  no  use  for  God  out  here  till  we  get  sick 
or  some  one  dies  and  then  we  think  of  the  God  our  mother 
knew  back  East.' " 

Everyone  Helping  in  the  Sunday  School 

"Some  two  months  ago,"  writes  a  missionary,  "I  visited 
a  very  needy  community  where  the  forces  of  evil  flourished. 
I  had  been  there  once,  about  a  year  ago,  and  out  of  a 
school  of  forty  children  and  others,  besides  about  fifty 
local  residents,  I  had  three  women,  a  man  and  a  little 
baby  for  an  audience,  and  they  did  want  a  Sunday  school. 
Two  months  ago  when  I  went  there — it  was  on  a  week 
day — I  went  into  the  day  school  and  saw  the  bright  faces 
of  so  many  children,  I  decided  they  should  not  beat  me 


APPENDIX  F  163 

this  time,  and  I  went  and  invited  the  people  to  come  to 
the  schoolhouse  at  the  closing  hour  of  the  school.  A 
few  of  the  mothers  came,  and  while  I  had  every  child 
present  for  my  subject,  I  managed  to  shame  them  into 
doing  something.  I  got  a  lady  to  say  that  she  would 
superintend  the  school,  and  the  battle  was  won.  I  went 
there  later  to  see  what  they  were  doing,  and  found  that 
they  have  from  forty  to  fifty  every  Sunday  in  the  little 
schoolhouse.     Even  the  saloonkeeper  comes." 

Organizing  Under  Difficulties 

"I    wish    I    could    give    you    an    idea   of   my   experience 

this  month  with  the  schools  at  P and  D ,  both  in 

the    Northern    Peninsula.      The    P district    is   a   little 

settlement  lying  several  miles  back  from  the  railroad,  and 
the  roads  are  almost  impassable  most  of  the  summer 
because  of  the  swamps.  I  had  to  walk  on  logs  and  poles 
and  jump  from  one  dry  place  to  another,  and  while  doing 
so,  had  to  fight  the  finest  specimens  of  mosquitoes  I  have 
ever  seen.  After  passing  a  deserted  lumber  camp — the 
only  houses  I  had  seen — I  had  to  go  through  another 
swamp  before  I  found  the  settlement.  And  in  going  into 
a  little  clearing,  I  spoke  to  the  farmer  and  told  him  who 
I  was  and  that  I  wanted  to  hold  a  meeting.  I  wish  I 
could  describe  the  welcome  I  got  and  the  joy  of  that 
father  as  I  spoke  of  my  work.  I  called  on  all  the  families, 
and  next  morning  in  the  little  log  schoolhouse,  I  preached 
to  twenty,  and  organized  a  Sunday  school.  Only  two 
persons  present  had  ever  been  members  of  any  church. 
After  service  I  had  to  refuse  two  urgent  invitations  for 
dinner,  because  I  had  another  appointment  at  two  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  and  did  not  have  time  to  eat;  so  after 
promising  to  come  and  see  them  again  I  went  off  to  my 
other  meeting,  thanking  God  for  the  privilege  of  bringing 
his  message  of  love  to  these  hvmgry  people  and  satisfied 
that  after  all  'it  is  worth  while.' " 

No  More  Sunday  Work 

"At   L I    found   that   the    Sunday   school   had   been 

discontinued  for  some  time,  owing  to  the  lack  of  a  super- 
intendent. However,  on  my  last  visit,  I  found  a  new  fam- 
ily, a  man  and  his  wife,  who  had  recently  arrived  from 
the  East.  They  were  both  religious  people,  and  totally 
unaccustomed  to  the  godless  ways  of  the  West.  I  found 
the  wife  at  home  on  Sunday  morning;  she  would  gladly 
aid  in  Sunday-school  work.     'But,'   she  said,  'my  husband 


l64  APPENDIX  F 

is  working  to-day  for  the  first  time  on  the  Sabbath ;  but 
he  don't  like  it  a  bit.  He  is  up  the  gulch  there  around 
that  point.  I  wish  you  would  go  and  see  him.'  When  I 
introduced  myself  to  him  a  few  minutes  later,  he  literally 
wilted  and  sat  down  on  a  rock  and  looked  at  his  feet. 
Finally,  he  looked  up  and  said,  "Brother  Ellis,  I  am 
ashamed  of  myself;  I  hate  this  Sunday  work.'  I  told  him 
I  was  glad  to  hear  him  say  it,  and  hoped  he  would  hate 
it  more  and  more.  Then  he  looked  at  his  feet  and  said 
thoughtfully,  'What  is  a  fellow  going  to  do  when  he  can't 
get  a  job  unless  he  works  on  Sunday?  I'll  give  you  fifty 
dollars  if  you  will  tell  me  where  I  can  get  a  job  at 
carpentering  without  being  compelled  to  work  on  Sunday. 
Well,  no,  I  can't  afford  that  much,  either,  but  I  would 
like  to  get  work  somehow.  I  have  been  unhappy  all  the 
morning,  just  miserable ;  this  is  the  first  time  I  ever 
worked  on  Sunday ;   I  think  it  will  be  the  last,  too.' 

"He  could  not  attend  the  afternoon  services,  but  his 
wife  was  present,  and  she,  Mrs.  B ,  was  elected  super- 
intendent  of    the    Sunday   school.     The  next   week,    Mrs. 

B wrote  to   me :  .  .  .  'As   for  myself,   I   only  worked 

the  Sunday  you  saw  me ;  however,  I  had  to  quit  the  work 
I  had,  as  they  kept  no  one  except  those  who  can  work  on 
Sundays.  Yet  I  am  proud  to  say  that  the  loss  is  gained 
in  another  way,  for  I  have  the  proud  honor  of  being 
teacher  in  the  senior  class  of  the  school.' 

"Let  us  hope  that  the  Sunday  school  will  help  him  to 
maintain  the  stand  he  was  led  to  take  by  that  morning 
call  of  your  Sunday-school  missionary  in  the  gulch  and 
among  the  trees." 

In  a  Nebraska  Log  House 

"On  Sunday  morning  we  went  to  the  schoolhouse,  after 
having  thoroughly  canvassed  the  community  during  the 
week.  I  wish  I  could  tell  you  about  that  schoolhouse. 
It  was  a  little  log  cabin  stuck  up  on  the  side  of  the  hill. 
One  side  was  dug  into  the  ground  and  the  other  side  stuck 
up  on  stilts.  When  I  looked  at  it  I  thought  of  the  fine 
big  schoolhouses  in  our  towns  and  cities,  and  felt  sorry 
for  the  boys  and  girls  that  had  to  go  to  school  in  such 
a  place.  But  we  couldn't  change  it  then,  and  so  the  little 
boy  made  a  fire  in  the  old  stove  and  I  found  an  old  broom 
and  swept  out  the  dirt  and  papers.  Soon  the  people  came 
and  we  had  an  audience  of  four  women,  one  man  and 
about  a  dozen  children. 

"They  all  wanted  a  Sunday  school,  but  who  would  be 
their  leader?     Not  one  person  had  ever  heard  a  prayer 


APPENDIX  F  165 

in  that  neighborhood  and  it  would  not  seem  to  be  the 
right  thing  to  have  a  person  for  superintendent  who  could 
not  lead  in  prayer.  We  nominated  every  woman  in  the 
house  and  then  the  only  man,  and  all  refused.  What 
were  we  to  do?  We  must  have  a  Sunday  school,  but  we 
could  not  have  it  without  a  superintendent,  and  we  must 
have  a  person  who  could  pray  and  nobody  would  under- 
take to  do  that.  The  situation  was  critical.  I  then  ap- 
pealed directly  to  the  old  gentleman.  He  blushed  and 
got  up  and  went  out.  I  continued  my  talk  and  he  soon 
came  in  again.  I  saw  there  was  a  struggle  going  on  in 
his  mind.  When  I  appealed  to  him  again  he  arose,  and, 
greatly  agitated,  said :  'I  have  been  a  Christian,  a  pray- 
ing man,  a  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school,  was  a 
happy  Christian  at  times,  and  thought  I  had  a  good  hope 
of  heaven.  Since  I  came  West,  away  off  here  in  the 
wilderness,  I  have  given  it  all  up.  At  first  I  tried  to 
maintain  my  profession,  tried  to  observe  Sunday  and  read 
the  Scriptures,  but  soon  got  cold  and  indifferent  and  soon 
I  neglected  and  forsook  it  all,  and  now  I  am  known  in 
this  community  as  a  godless  man,  and  it  would  not  do 
for  me  to  be  superintendent.  It  would  be  a  disgrace  to 
the  cause.' 

"I  appealed  to  him  to  reform,  to  come  back  to  the  Lord, 
to  forsake  his  godless  ways  and  God  would  surely  re- 
ceive him  and  would  again  make  him  a  happy  and  useful 
Christian.  He  consented,  and  took  the  school,  and  he  and 
his  daughter  have  kept  it  going  every  summer  for  several 
years." 


INDEX 


Adams,  Presbytery  of,  35. 
Arizona,  94. 
Arkansas,  92. 

B 
Bainton,  Rev.  H.  W.,  71. 
Baxter,  Rev.  W.  W.,  86. 
Bequests,  137. 
Board    of    Publication    and 

Sabbath-School      Work, 

Reorganization  of,   7. 
Brown,  Rev.  Joseph,  39. 
Butterfield,  Rev.  George  C, 

no. 

C 
California,  106. 
Child,  The  Study  of,  18. 
Children,  Winning  the,  127. 
Children's  Day,  136. 
Churches,    Development   of, 

35- 
Churches,     Forerunner     of, 

9: 

Citizenship,    Better,   117. 

Clapp,  Rev.  James  B.,  46. 

Colorado,  67. 

Currens,  Rev.  J.  B.,  61. 

D 

Dillard,     Rev.     George     T. 
(D.D.),  119. 

E 
Educational        Superintend- 
ents, Duties  of,  26. 
Educational  Work,  25. 
Ellis,  Rev.  Edwin  M.,  47. 


Ferguson,     Rev.     S.     R. 

(D.D.),  52. 
Forbes,  Rev.  W.  O.  (D.D.), 

19,  102. 
Foreign   Missionaries,   70. 
Foreigners,    Colporteur 

Work  for,  136. 
Foreigners,  Publications  for, 

140. 
Frontier,  The,  5. 
Frontier,   The  New,  21. 


Grant,  Edwin  H.,  47. 
Georgia,  120. 

H 
Henry,     Rev.     Alexander 

(D.D.).  II. 
Hicks,  Rev.  Arthur,  no. 
Home  Missions,  125. 
Homesteaders,  The,  41. 
Humble,  Rev.  Dr.  C,  88. 


Idaho,  74. 

Illinois,  51. 

Illustrations,        Missionary, 

149,  165. 
Indiana,  62. 
Iowa,  52. 
Iron    Mountain,    Presbytery 

of,  59- 
Irrigation,  72,  no. 


Jewell,   Rev.    David   A.,  62. 
167 


i68 


INDEX 


Kansas,  55. 


K 


Literature     for     Reference, 

136. 
Louisiana,  90. 
Lumber   Camps,    103. 

M 
McClintock,     Rev.     J.     C. 

(D.D.),  22. 
Michigan,  62. 
Milligan,  Rev.  J.  V.  (D.D.), 

106. 
Mining  Camps,  95. 
Minnesota,  32. 
Missionary,     An     Itinerant, 

39- 

Missouri,  57. 
Montana,  41. 
Mormonism,  78,  79. 
Mountaineers,  Southern,  83. 

N 

Nebraska,  59. 

Negro,  Educational  Oppor- 
tunities of,  116. 

Negro,  Foundation  Work 
for,  119. 

Negro,  Statistics,  116. 

Nevada,  109. 

New  Mexico,  94. 

New  Settlements,  76. 

New  Settlers,  Needs  of,  42. 

North  Dakota,  40. 

Northwest,  Development  of, 

5- 

O 

O'Brien,  Captain  A.  R.,  55. 
Ohio,  62. 
Oklahoma,  90. 
Oregon,  104. 
Organization,  Field,  12. 


Pecos  Valley,  go. 

Pioneer,   A   Missionary,  61. 


Pioneer  Districts,  loj. 

Provine,  Rev.  A.  W.  (D.D.), 
94- 

R 

Rally  Day,  136. 

Rankin,  Rev.  Hugh  W.,  76. 

Results,  A  Specimen  of,  69. 

Results,  Table  of,   147,   148. 

Rural  Districts,  Reconstruc- 
tion of,  24. 


Schureman,  W.  H.  68. 
Scotton,  Thomas,  35. 
South  Dakota,  41. 
Spiritual     Destitution,     Ex- 
tent of,  19. 
Study     Classes,     Questions 

for,  131,  135. 
Sulzer,  Robert  F.,  34. 
Sunday-school  Institutes,  28. 
Sunday     School,     Statistics 

of,  146,  148. 
Sunday     Schools,     Organiz- 
ing, 54- 
Sunday-school  Missions, 

Administration   of,    10. 
Sunday-school  Missions, 

Catholicity  of,  126. 
Sunday-school  Missions, 

History  of,  3. 
Sunday-school    Missions    in 

Cities,  58. 
Sunday-school  Missions, 

No  Waste  in,  13. 
Sunday-school  Missions, 

Principles  of,  8. 
Sunday-school  Missions, 

Value  of,  23. 
Sunday-school  Missionaries, 

Consecration  of,  46. 
Sunday-school  Missionaries, 

Cost  of  Supporting,  137. 
Sunday-school    Workers, 

Development  of,  87. 
Supervision,    D  e  n  o  m  i  n  a- 

tional,  4. 


INDEX 


169 


Teacher    Training,    Classes 

for,  28. 
Texas,  92. 
Twin  Falls,  Idaho,  TJ. 

U 
Utah,  78. 

W 
Washington,  loi. 


Westminster     Standard    of 

Excellence,  27. 
Wisconsin,  37. 
Worden,     Rev.     James     A, 

(D.D.),  10. 
Wyoming,  71. 

Y 
Young  People's  Work,  De- 
partment of,  143,   145. 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  01114  2223 


Date  Due 


